Where These Roads Lead
by Lys Dez
Summary: Andie Winchester was raised, alongside her brothers, to be a hunter by her father. But after his recent disappearance, Andie finds herself thrown into chaos as she reunites with her estranged twin brother, struggles to find her father, who maybe doesn't even want to be found, and continues to have dreams which come true. [Sisfic. Canon-divergent. Starts in S1. Eventual Cas/OC]
1. The Woman in White

_Author Notes: Alright. I posted this story a while back. But I took it off for really no good reason, other than I can never make up my mind. Anyway, here's the first chapter again. There's a couple very minor changes, but it's all pretty much the same. __I promise to leave this story it alone this time._

_Follow me at andie-winchester dot tumblr com (link on my profile page) for a blog specifically about Andie and this story. There, you will find out about updates, future characters, and how I picture the characters looking. (I use Willa Holland as the face claim for Andie)._

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Supernatural nor any of the characters, plot lines, dialogue, or other materials which can be found within the show. **

* * *

**Where These Roads Lead**

Chapter One / /** The Woman in White**

Andie jolted awake from another night of restless sleep as she was shook awake by her older brother, Dean. She sat up, rubbing at her eyes, and slowly became conscious of her surroundings. Dean was pacing back and forth in the small motel room, frantically packing around her, and whispering something about how they needed to go.

"What's going on?"

Dean reached behind to the other bed, grabbing a hand-held sound recorder out from the top of his duffel bag and handed it to her. She took it, no questions asked, and pressed play. The familiar voice of their father spoke, buried well behind static. _"__Dean...something big is happening...I need to try to figure out what's going on. It may...Be very careful, Dean. We're all in danger."_

"And after some work, I got this." Dean leaned over and hit another button on the recording device. This time, over their father's, was a woman's echoing voice, _"__I can never go home."_

"What the hell?"

He shrugged. "I don't know, but Dad's in trouble."

"We're going to Jericho." Andie stated, then sprung from the bed, walking over to the corner of the room where her duffel bag sat.

"But first, we've got to make a pit stop."

"Okay. Where?"

* * *

"_No way_."

"Oh, come on, Andie." Dean gave her a nudge. "He's our brother."

"Yeah, and I would love for him to join us again, for us to go find Dad, and become this great, wonderful, big happy family, but I think we both know that's never gonna happen with Sam's stubbornness and Dad's temper.

"It's at least worth a shot to talk to Sam."

"Fine, but when he rejects you, don't come crying to me," she half-heartedly joked. "Do you even know which one is Sam's?"

"Of course I do!" Dean answered, sounding slightly offended that she would even doubt him. With one last look into the opened Chevy Impala door, Dean said, "I'll be right back. Watch the car!"

It was Halloween, never a big holiday for the Winchesters, but to drunk college students, it was all the rage with parties, egging houses and cars. And because they sat behind an apartment building near Stanford University's campus, Dean was all worried that some drunk and/or high idiots would hurt his _baby_, which left Andie on car-sitting duty. The rule was if someone touches, hits, even _looks_at the car, shoot them. She thought it was a bit extreme, but the black 1967 car had been in the Winchester family for awhile now. It had been originally their father's, before he passed it on to Dean as a present for his eighteenth birthday.

Andie looked around for her brother, but he was long gone, and on his way to retrieve Sam. She loved Sam, he was her twin brother and all, but she didn't necessarily see why they needed him so bad for this hunt. If Dad was there, then there should be no reason why the three of them wouldn't be able to handle it. Though Dean would never admit to it, Andie knew him well enough and through enough indirect remarks, she suspected that maybe he was just desperate to have what he once experienced during the first four years of his life, a white-picket fence family, the apple pie life, they called it. Something neither Andie nor Sam had been able to have for themselves since they were both only six months old when their mother died in the nursery fire. That same night, John Winchester became a man that overworked his children, trained them to be soldiers, and was never much of a father to either of them. He was rarely around, always leaving Dean in charge of the twins. They lived out of motel rooms or abandoned houses, and they were constantly on the move, causing them to always be the weird new kids. Their only source of income came from their father's nightly gambles at bars, making it all off poker games and pool. Sam had hated the way they lived, and successfully left. After trying ridiculously hard in the million and one schools they attended, Sam received a full scholarship to Stanford, which should be a parent's proudest moment. Not in their messed-up household. Dad was furious. Him and Sam got into one of their infamous fights that consisted of screaming, breaking a plate to a nose, and getting kicked out of motel rooms. But their last fight had ended with, "If you walk out that door, don't you dare come back!" And so went Sam. All because Dad wanted revenge on the monster that killed his wife.

To cope with her death and his mistakes (which there was a lot), John turned to alcohol. Sometimes there were days when he got rougher than usual with his children, and would pull harder on their tiny arms, scream at them a little louder, and it was always over the tiniest things, like accidentally spilling the milk at dinner. Andie suspected that in two days her father would be returning to some of his old habits as November 2nd quickly approached them. The day Mary Winchester died. The day the lives of the Winchesters were changed forever.

Andie's attention changed focus once she saw Dean emerge from a back door, followed _surprisingly _by Sam. Even through the closed car windows, she could still hear Sam's complaints, "The weapon training, and melting silver into bullets? Man, Dean, we were raised like warriors"

"So what are you gonna do? You're just gonna live some normal, apple pie life? Is that right?" Dean asked, leading the way towards the car's back. Andie stepped out of the car, and met her brothers at the trunk.

"No, not normal, safe," Sam corrected.

"And that's why you ran away." Dean scoffed as he glanced away from his brother, silently letting his anger grow. Sam had no idea how bad his leaving had affected them all. There had been one night, only days after Sam had left, Dad had gone out to some bar, and Dean, who was still angry to even look at him, stayed behind with Andie. The two had stolen various types of alcohol from the local liquor store, and they downed as much as they could until they passed out. It only made Dean more angry when both of them spent the next day hungover. He was furious that they would ever come to such a low point over just another Sam and John argument. Except, this one wasn't like any of the others. It was the final one that broke their family apart.

"I was just going to college," Sam stated. "It was Dad who said if I was going, to stay gone, and that's what I'm doing."

Andie frowned. _That doesn't mean avoid your family for four years, dipshit._

_"__Yeah, well, Dad's in real trouble right now. If he's not dead already. I can feel it."_

Sam stared at his brother, then his sister. Both were obviously worried about Dad, and it made him feel guilty inside to know he didn't share the same feelings. Not as strong as they did at least.

Dean then added, "We can't do this alone."

"Yes, you can." Sam knew, like Andie, that his help wasn't needed. He had been gone for _four_ years, and here they were before his eyes, still standing.

Dean looked down. "Yeah, well, we don't want to."

Sam sighed at that. He glanced over at Andie, who was being unusually quiet. She stared at him as well, waiting for his answer as so did Dean. He thought long and hard, before finally, he said, "What was he hunting?"

With a new feeling of satisfaction, Dean propped up the trunk of the Impala. "No one gave you trouble, Andie, did they?"

"Nope. Didn't even need to show off the shotgun."

"Awesome," Dean replied. He dug around through the cluttered trunk, full of various weaponry from a pistol to an arsenal. "Alright, let's see, where the hell did I put that thing?"

"In the back, underneath the silver bullets," Andie responded.

"Thanks."

"So when Dad left, why didn't you guys go with him?" Sam asked.

"We were working our own gig," Dean explained. "This, uh, voodoo thing down in New Orleans."

"Dad let you go on a hunting trip by yourselves?"

"I'm twenty-six, dude," Dean said, shooting Sam a look. He then nodded towards Andie. "And she's twenty-two."

"We can survive quite well on our own. You'd be surprised," she added in sarcastically.

"Alright, here we go," Dean said, moving on. "So Dad was checking out this two-lane blacktop from outside Jericho, California. About a month ago, this guy," he handed one of the printed news articles from _The Jericho Herald__t_o Sam. The one about Andrew Casey, the most recent guy to disappear. "They found his car, but he vanished. Completely M-I-A."

"So, maybe he was kidnapped." Andie scoffed at that. Sam shot her an annoyed look in return.

Dean seemed to agree with his sister. "Yeah, well, here's one in April. Another one in December 'oh-four, 'oh-three, 'ninety-eight, 'ninety-two," Dean listed, each accompanied by another article from the same newspaper. "Ten of them over the past twenty years. All men. All the same five-mile stretch of road. It started happening more, and more, so Dad went to go dig around. That was three weeks ago. I hadn't heard from him since then, which is bad enough. Then I get this voicemail yesterday." Dean held up the black tape player, and let Sam listen to the message he had previously played for Andie.

Once John's voice stopped, Sam asked, "You know, there's EVP on that?"

"Not bad, Sammy. Kinda like riding a bike, isn't it?" Dean grinned, but Sam shook his head. "Alright, I slowed down the message, I ran it through a gold wave, took out the hiss, and this is what I got." He played the edited message of the mystery woman, "_I can never go home." _

"Never go home," Sam echoed.

Dean slammed the trunk back down. "You know, in almost two years, we've never bothered you, never asked you for a thing."

Sam sighed, split between his choices, but then he said, "Alright, I'll go. I'll help you find him. But I have to go back first thing Monday. Just wait here." He turned to leave, but Dean stopped him, "What's first thing Monday?"

"I have this...I have an interview."

"What, a job interview? Skip it," Dean suggested.

"It's a law school interview," Sam explained, "and it's my whole future on a plate."

"Law school?"

"So, we got a deal or not?"

When Dean said nothing, Andie answered, shooting her silent brother a look, "Deal."

* * *

_Sam sighed happily as he flopped on to the bed, his eyes peacefully closed. A drop of blood fell on to his forehead, and he flinched in response. Another drop fell, and then an another. Confused at the warm feeling, Sam opened his eyes, and gasped out._

_A blonde, curly-haired girl was pressed against the ceiling. The front of her shirt was covered in blood and she was a pale, purplish color, staring down at Sam. _

"_No!" he cried out._

_A fire suddenly broke out. Flames first overcame the blonde's body, before it took over the rest of the ceiling and the walls of the room, then consumed the furniture, the desk, the bookcase. Pieces of the ceiling were falling. Sam was completely surrounded by the burning down room. He instinctively brought an arm over his face. "Jess!"_

Andie's eyes shot open. Her breathing was short and rapid, as she panted. She took a deep breath, suddenly realizing that she had only been dreaming _again. _She laid in the backseat of the Impala, resting on her stomach with her head against her rolled up jacket. Every time she closed her eyes she witnessed Jess's burning body and Sam's screams. For a week the nightmare had been haunting her following her to every new motel room or overnight in the car.

With a prickling feeling in her arm, Andie moved so she was laying on her side, propped up on her non-numb arm's elbow. Examining around, she noticed that they were parked beside some small, cheap gas station through the backseat window. Dean wasn't present in the car, but Sam still was. She was half in, half out of the car with his door wide open. He had a cardboard box in his lap, which Andie immediately recognized. It was Dean's cassette tape collection.

Thinking back on her dream, Andie frowned. Jess pinned on to the ceiling above Sam, bleeding from a slash in her stomach, and then a fire with no warning, no identifiable cause. It was almost—_it was _identical to the way the stories she had heard of her mother's death had always gone. Of course, her father never wanted to speak much about it, so who knows how much of the story she really got.

"Hey, Sam?"

"Hm?" Sam hummed, shooting half a glance towards his sister.

"You wouldn't happen to know a Jess, would you?" It was a dumb question. Why would he? It was only a dream. But the feeling she received from the nightmare made her wonder if it was something more.

Sam again looked back at her, but instead continued to focus on Andie. "Y-yeah, that's the name of my girlfriend."

_Girlfriend?_ "Did you happen to mention her, uh, ever?"

He shook his head, confound. "I didn't think so, but I must of." But that was a long shot. Sam hadn't spoken to her, nor Dean since the day he had left for Stanford.

Sam and Andie were still watching each other, when they heard Dean call from outside, something along the lines of , "You want breakfast?"

Andie was the first to break away from their gaze, with Sam shortly following, turning towards Dean as he approached. "No thanks." Sam continued to glance over the tapes, as Dean filled the Impala's gas tank. "So, how'd you pay for that stuff? You guys still running credit card scams?"

"Yeah, well, hunting ain't exactly a pro ball career," Dean told him. "Besides, all we do is apply. It's not our fault they send us the cards."

"And what names did you write on the application this time?" Sam asked, swinging himself back into the car, and shutting his door, as Dean headed towards the driver's seat.

"Uh, Burt Aframain, and his two children, Hector and Eileen. Scored two cards out of the deal." Dean knocked on the backseat window. "You awake, Andie?"

She grudgingly sat up. "Yep. You get anything good?"

"Chips and Lifesavers."

She grimaced. "Pass."

"I swear, man, you've gotta update your cassette tape collection," Sam said to Dean, staring into the cardboard box.

"Why?"

"Well, for one, they're cassette tapes, and two, Black Sabbath? Motorhead? Metallica?" As Sam named each band, he held up the correlating tape. "It's the greatest hits of the mullet rock."

"I just finally house-trained Andie, and it looks like I've gotta teach you too." Dean snatched the Metallica one out of his brother's hand. "House rules, Sammy, driver picks the music, shotgun shuts his cake hole."

"You know, Sammy is a chubby twelve-year-old. It's Sam, okay?"

Dean cranked the radio, and shouted over the song, "Sorry, I can't hear you, the music's too loud!"

Sam glanced back at Andie, who offered him an innocent shrug, a small smile playing on her face. He turned back towards the front, and huffed.

* * *

"Thank you," Sam spoke into his cell, before hanging up and placing his phone back into his coat pocket. He turned towards his siblings. "There's no one matching Dad at the hospital or the morgue. So that's something."

Dean was only half-listening to Sam, as he caught sight of the scene ahead of them. He slowed down, nearing a closed-off bridge, complete with cops. _Bingo._ "Check it out."

Sam and Andie both leaned forward.

Dean parked just before the bridge, then reached into the glove department, revealing various types of fake badges. He smirked at Sam, who was staring at him in horror. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Dean passed a badge back to Andie, then stuffed one against Sam's chest, plus grabbing one for himself. "Let's go."

Dean lead the way towards a couple of police officers, who stood by a car in the middle of the bridge. He and Andie stood tall, as they made their way over, searching around and making it look believable as they actually belonged there. Sam, however, walked behind, awkwardly following, clearly not impressed with his siblings' tactics.

"You fellas had another one like this just last month, didn't you?" Dean asked, unapologetically breaking into the two cops' talk.

One of the officers turned around. "And who are you?"

Dean and Andie flashed their badges, simultaneously. They had much practice. "Federal marshals," Dean answered, before taking a look-see at the car.

"You three are a little young for marshals, aren't you?"

Andie smiled. "You're sweet." She joined Dean's side. "You had another just like this, correct?"

"Yeah, that's right," the officer agreed. "About a mile up the road. There have been others before that."

"So this victim, you knew him?" Sam asked.

The man nodded. "Town like this, everybody knows everybody."

Dean circled around the car. "Any connection between the victims, besides that they're all men?"

"No. Not that we can tell."

"So, what's the theory?" Sam interrogated, moving to the other side of Dean.

"Honestly, we don't know" the officer answered. "Serial murder? Kidnapping ring?"

"Well, that is exactly the kind of crack police work I'd expect out of you guys." In response, Sam and Andie concurrently both stomped on each one of Dean's feet as code for: _shut the hell up. _

"Thank you for your time," Sam, embarrassed by his brother's behavior, forced a smile at a the officer, before briskly walking away.

Dean first smacked Andie in the back of the head, then Sam.

"Ow!" Andie cried. "Douche!"

Sam rubbed the spot. "What was that for?"

"Why'd you have to step on my foot?" Dean retorted.

"Why do you have to talk to police like that?"

"Come on," Dean started, "They don't know what's going on. We're all alone on this. I mean, if we're going to find Dad, we've got to get to the bottom of this thing ourselves."

After speaking with the most recent victim's girlfriend, and researching at the local library, the Winchesters learned about the local legend of Constance Welch. The lore said she took a fall off of the same bridge where the accidents had been happening. They then decided that they would head back to the very spot at nightfall, when all the police officers would be gone.

Dean leaned over the edge of the railing, spotting a river down below. "So this is where Constance took the swan dive?"

"You think Dad would have been here?" Sam asked.

"Well, he's chasing the same story, and we're chasing him." Dean stated, walking away from the edge of the bridge.

"So now what?" Andie asked. She stood beside Sam, as the two slowly followed Dean.

"Now we keep digging until we find him," Dean explained. "Might take awhile."

Sam stopped. "Dean, I told you, I've gotta get back by Monday."

"Monday, right. The interview," Dean recalled, turning around to face Sam. "You're really serious about this, aren't you? You think you're just going to become some lawyer? Marry your girl?"

"Maybe. Why not?"

"Does Jessica know the truth about you? I mean, does she know about the things you've done?"

Andie sighed. "Dean—"

"No, and she's not ever going to know."

"Well, that's healthy," Dean commented sarcastically. "You can pretend all you want, Sammy, but sooner or later, you're going to have to face up to who you really are." He pivoted away from his siblings, and continued the other way.

"And who's that?" Sam called after him.

"You're one of us."

Sam ran in front of Dean, stopping him. "No, I'm not like you. This is not going to be my life."

"You have a responsibility to—"

"To Dad and his crusade?" Sam asked, baffled. He couldn't believe Dean. Him and his constant loyalty to Dad. Why couldn't he see Dad for who he really was? "If it weren't for pictures, I—Andie and I, we wouldn't even know what Mom looks like. And what difference does it make? Even if we do find the thing that killed her, Mom's gone. And she's not coming back." _Now, that was crossing the line._

Andie's eyes widened at her brother's ruthless talk. She nervously glanced over at Dean, waiting for him to react, and she thought maybe for a second, just a second, that Dean was going to let it slide, but then he lunged at Sam, gripping the collar of his shirt, and slammed him against the side of the bridge, proving Andie wrong. "Don't you ever talk about her like that," Dean said through gritted teeth. He dropped Sam, and turned away, his anger fuming, until he spotted a pale, young woman dressed in white, standing on the ledge of bridge. It was no one other than the spirit of Constance Welch. "Sam, Andie."

The twins turned their heads towards the direction where Dean was looking. The ghost glanced the Winchesters' way, then jumped. They bolted over to the spot where Constance had fallen.

"Where'd she go?" Dean asked, scanning over the river below.

"I don't know," Sam answered.

Constance was gone. The three siblings knew she couldn't have just disappeared. They knew better than that, but they were still surprised when they heard the familiar soft roar of a car starting behind them. They spun around, and caught the flicker of the Impala's headlights.

Puzzled, Sam asked his brother, "Who's driving you car?"

Dean pulled the keys out of his jacket pocket. They jiggled slightly in the wind, signaling to Andie, who hadn't bothered to look towards her brother's hand, that indeed, the car was possessed.

The black Chevy was set into drive, and started for the three of them. They ran, until they could no longer outrun the car, and took a jump over the bridge's railing, their seemingly only option. But Andie wasn't ready to let herself to take a dive into the mucky waters below, so before she could fall, she took a chance, and grabbed on to the bottom of the railing bars. She opened her eyes, and beside her was her twin, but where was Dean?

Andie and Sam called out their brother's name. Within seconds, he resurfaced on to the shore, crawling, covered from head to toe in mud. "What!"

"Are you alright?" Sam asked.

Dean held up the universal hand gesture for okay. "Super!"

Sam lifted himself back on to the solid ground of the bridge, and held out his hand for Andie, but she pridefully avoided it, easily raising herself all on her own. The two glanced back over at the ground, and couldn't help but at least smile when they saw their grumpy, older brother making his way back on to the bridge. Dean scowled at them once he was close enough for it to be visible. He moved around them and over to his car, opening the hood, and checking for possible damage the spirit could have caused.

"Your car working alright?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, whatever she did to it, seems alright now." Dean shut the hood, then leaned against it as he exclaimed out, "That Constance chick, what a _bitch!_"

"Well, she doesn't want us digging around, that's for sure," Sam stated. "So, where's the job go from here, genius?" He sat beside Dean, who threw his hands up in frustration, flicking some of the mud off. Sam scrunched his nose, then looked over at his brother. "You smell like a toilet."

Dean grimaced. He held out his arms wide to Sam, as if to give a hug. Sam stepped back, nervously shaking his head, "Don't you dare." Then, without warning, Dean spun, and wrapped his arms around Andie, a smug smile on his face.

"I hate you!" she squealed. She attempted to push him off, but he wouldn't budge. After several moments, Dean finally let go, leaving a presence of mud on Andie's jacket and jeans.

Sam was the one laughing now. That was until Andie swiped her hands on the back of Dean's leather jacket, and rubbed it all over the front of Sam's shirt. He raised his eyebrows, obviously not impressed. "Really?"

But Andie was impressed with herself, and it showed as she smiled. "Really."

* * *

"One room please." Dean threw his credit card down on to the motel desk.

The old man behind the counter examined each Winchester skeptically, glancing them up and down, especially the oldest who had the worst of mud on him. He looked down at the name on Dean's card. "You guys having a reunion or something?"

"What do you mean?" Sam wondered.

"I had another guy, Burt Aframain," he explained. "He came and bought out a room for the whole month."

"Well, yeah, we are," Andie lied, "What room did you say Burt is staying in?"

"I didn't." The guy was suspicious, debating on if these guys were real or not. Then again, Burt had been a big creep himself. Right up front, demanding no room service be done to his room. Over the course of the motel owner's life, he knew that meant nothing but good, but yet he never went against the person's wishes. Dean, figuring the guy's feelings, added casually, as if he was only speaking to his siblings, with a small chuckle, "Uncle Burt got here fast. Didn't expect him until Monday."

That was enough for the owner, who lacked empathy to start with. "He's in room twelve." He glanced down at the guest book. "There's a room beside him. Room eleven, with two queens?"

Two queens meant that someone was on the couch, or two would have to fit into one bed. When they were children, commonly Sam and Andie would share a bed, and this went on til they were about fifteen, until they simply became too big to continue to doing so, and John started getting two rooms. But even after, when the Winchesters were low on money, and could only afford one room, sometimes the twins still shared a bed, or one took to the floor. However, now, ignoring the fact that they were both much bigger now, Andie didn't feel real conformable with that. She had know Sam her whole life, even before, but at the same time, after these four, estranged years, she almost felt like she didn't. Not well at least. However, Andie didn't object, and even told the old man that it "sounds perfect", as she snatched the key from the his hand.

Back into the daylight, they walked down the sidewalk beside the motel doors, passing straight past room eleven, and right for twelve. Sam gave one quiet knock, the Winchesters' secret knock, to the door. But nobody came to the door. He jiggled the knob, but it was locked. He nodded towards his brother and sister, who immediately took the position of look-out as he knelt down to pick the door's lock. Once it clicked open, Sam and Andie entered, but Dean had seemed to miss the memo, and continued to stare out into the mostly empty parking lot. Sam rolled his eyes, and grabbed the back of Dean's jacket, yanking him in.

Inside, the three observed the ghost town-like motel room. The walls were covered in news stories, many from the newspaper Dean had collected his articles from. Salt lines were across the floor, sitting in front of the doors and windows. There was even a half-eaten burger on the table. "I don't think he's been here for a few days at least," Dean said, giving the rotting sandwich a sniff.

Andie shot him a look of pure disgust.

"What?"

"Why'd you have to sniff it?"

"Guys," Sam interrupted, "there's salt, cat-eye shells." He ran his fingers across the line of salt beside the door. "He was worried. Trying to keep something from coming in."

Dean placed down the burger, and walked over to one of the covered walls.

"What have you got there?" Sam asked, meeting his brother.

"Centennial Highway victims," Dean answered. "I don't get it. I mean, different men, different jobs, ages, ethnicities There's always a connection, right? What do these guys have in common?"

"You mean, other than the fact that they were stupid enough to pick up some random woman hitchhiking in the middle of the night? Dunno." Andie offered a shrug, as she walked towards her oldest brother, the sarcasm dripping off her words.

Sam, who had moved to the other side of the room, spoke up, "Dad figured it out."

Dean, along with Andie, glanced back. "What do you mean?"

"He found the same article we did," he explained. "Constance Welch. She's a woman in white."

Dean stared at the pictures of Constance's victims hanging on the walls. "You sly dogs." He turned away, and looked back at his siblings. "Alright, so if we're dealing with a woman in white, Dad would have found the corpse and destroyed it."

"She might have another weakness," Sam offered.

"Well, Dad would want to make sure." He crossed across the room, and stood beside Sam. "He'd dig her up. Does it say where she's buried?"

"No, not that I can tell," Sam said, "If I were Dad though, I'd go ask her husband." He tapped the picture of a man titled as Joesph Welch. "If he's still alive."

"Alright," Dean agreed. "Why don't you two, uh, see if you can find an address. I'm gonna go get cleaned up."

He started to walk away, but Sam stopped him, "Hey Dean?"

Dean turned.

"What I said earlier, about Mom and Dad, I'm sorry."

The oldest Winchester held up a hand. "No chick-flick moments."

Sam laughed, and nodded. "Alright. Jerk."

"Bitch."

Andie rolled her eyes, playfully. "Idiots."

Sam let out another laugh, as Dean disappeared through the bathroom door. His smile faded, as his eye caught something on the mirror that sat above the dresser. Hanging over the one of the mirror's corners was rosary, but that wasn't what gained his attention. That was normal. Below the cross, was a picture pressed against the glass. He picked it up for a closer view, and couldn't help but smile sadly at what his eyes perceived. Sitting on the Chevy Impala, all in their winter gear, was the Winchester family. John sat in the middle, with a young Dean at his side. In his lap, were an even younger Sam and Andie. In the small Polaroid, they didn't look so bad, like an actual, normal family. Too bad that wasn't the case.

* * *

Bored out of her mind, Andie laid on one of the beds, her stomach pressed against the sheets as she stared at the television. A local news anchor reported on the subject of the recent missing men, saying nothing good, only the fact that they were still missing. Andie frowned, grimly.

The weight of the bed shifted, and Andie shot a quick glance to the side as Sam sat down beside her. His phone was pressed to his ear, as he listened attentively.

Dean entered the room from the bathroom, much cleaner than he had been the night before. He crossed the room, and grabbed his jacket from off of a chair, shrugging it on. "Hey, I'm starving. I'm gonna go grab a little something to eat in that diner down the street. You guys want anything?"

"No," Sam answered.

"Aframian's buying," Dean added in, as if it was a deal-breaker, but Sam still shook his head.

"Well, I'll come." Andie shut the TV off, then swung her legs over the edge of the bed, and picked up her jacket from off of the floor. "This place is so depressing."

"What do you mean?" Dean asked.

"Well, for one thing, Dad's not even here," she explained. "He's gone, missing, just like everyone else in this damn town."

He shook his head, not pleased and disagreeing with what his sister was saying. "Andie—"

"Oh come on, Dean, like it hasn't crossed your mind!"

"Dad's missing, so what?" Dean stated, with his normal care-free attitude. "That means nothing."

"It's just a big coincidence then, huh?" Andie crossed her arms and stared at her brother. They stood in silence for several moments. Dean obviously did not want to speak on the matter, but Andie felt it was a necessity, or they had to at least realize what all the possibilities were. "What about the voicemail? The I can never go home thing? That's nothing too? You said yourself you thought Dad was in trouble."

Dean let out a laugh. "Well, that's before I realized just what we were really dealing with. A woman in white, that's nothing." Dad was _fine. _He had been hunting for too many years, and doing it solo too, to let a little spirit be the one to bring him down. But it was a worry to Andie, so he added, "Dad's probably off, drinking, maybe even passed out at a bar. It wouldn't be the first time."

"He doesn't drink on the job," Andie reminded him, but she seemed to accept it, as she no longer brought the subject up. She rubbed the toe of her boot against the stained carpeted floor, before looking only partially the way up at Dean, as she asked, "Ready to go?"

Sam was watching his siblings, still only paying little attention, as most of it was devoted to his cell phone, but his interest had sparked towards his siblings during the course of their conversation. Dean caught Sam staring, and asked a hard, yet accidentally harsh, "What?" Sam shrugged in response, turning away from his brother.

Dean waited by the door, as Andie shot a "see ya later" to Sam, who only gave her a nod in acknowledgment. He lead the way to the Impala, but was stopped short. Only a few feet away, the motel owner was speaking to the two cops from the bridge, and was _pointing_ at them. Before Andie could even comprehend her own thoughts, Dean had his phone whipped out, and Sam on the other end. "Dude, five-oh, take off."

Andie nervously glanced from Dean to the officers, who were now approaching. She sent a death glare towards the owner, who was heading back towards the motel. She looked back at her oldest brother, who still had the phone pressed to his ear. "Uh, they kinda spotted us. Go find Dad." He placed the cell phone back into his coat jacket, before smiling up at the two men. "Problem, officers?"

"Where's your partner?" one asked.

"Partner?" Dean repeated. "She's right here."

The man pointed towards the motel room, and the other officer obeyed. "You had _another_ partner."

Andie shook her head. "No, just us two. Three U.S. Marshals? That seems like a lot for a case like this."

"So, fake U.S. Marshals, fake credit cards," he listed. "You got anything that's real?"

Dean grinned. "My boobs."

The second officer had returned from the motel room, with no Sam, so that was something, but after Dean's little remark, the officer slammed Andie against the side of the cop car. "Ow, watch it!" she complained, her wrist pinched as he handcuffed her.

"You have the right to remain silent..." the first officer started.

Andie glared at Dean, who was in the exact same position. "Real smooth, dumbass."

* * *

"So, you want to give us your real name?" Sheriff Pierce entered the room once again, but this time with a box present in his hands, which he set down on the table in front of Dean and Andie.

"I told you, it's Nugent. Ted Nugent. And she's Rusty Day."

"You do realize Rusty Day was a man right?" the sheriff asked, but he didn't wait for an answer. "I'm not sure you two realize how much trouble you're in here."

"We talking, like misdemeanor kind of trouble, or, uh, squeal like a pig trouble?" Dean asked.

Andie rolled her eyes. "You'll have to excuse my brother, he think he's funny."

"'Cause I am," Dean defended himself.

However, the sheriff wasn't in the mood for any of their banter, and ignored it, continuing on with the interrogation, "You got the faces of ten missing persons taped to your wall. Along with a whole lot of Satanic mumbo-jumbo. You two are officially suspects."

"That makes sense," Dean stated, sarcastically. "Because when the first one went missing in '82, I was three, and she wasn't even born!"

But Sheriff Pierce still continued on. "I know you've got partners. One of 'em's an older guy. Maybe he started the whole thing. So, tell me, _Dean._" He tossed a brown, bounded, leather-journal on to the table."This is?"

Both of the Winchesters stared at it. _Dad's Journal__. _

The sheriff started to flip through it. "I thought that might be your name. See, I leafed through this. With little I could make out—I mean, it's nine kinds of crazy! But, I found this too." He opened to a page, which in Dad's familiar hand-writing, _Dean 35-111, _was written across. _"_Now, you're staying right here 'til you tell me exactly what the hell that means." He glanced over at Andie, with a sickly, mocking smile. "And what your name is, sweetheart."

"Well, I'll tell you one thing, it's not sweetheart."

Ignoring Andie, Sheriff Pierce turned back to her brother. "So?"

"It's an old locker combo," Dean lied.

The sheriff raised his eyebrows. "Really?"

Dean shrugged. "Yeah, why not?"

"Something that normal would be in there," he directed towards the journal, "with the Satanic crap?"

"How do you even know it's Satanic?" Andie asked, leaning slightly forward. "Only another Satanic worshiper would know that."

"Are you confirming?"

"No, just simply stating."

"I don't think you two realize how serious this really is," _Oh like hell, they didn't._ "You're treating this as if it's some big joke. This is murder. We're looking at up to a lifetime in prison."

Andie let out an ill-humored laugh. "You're the joke! _People_ are dying, but you have us locked in here, when we actually have an idea of what we're doing! Unlike you, morons!"

"Hey!" Dean interrupted. "You stomped on my foot yesterday for saying the same kind of crap!"

Andie glared at Sheriff Pierce, who's back was turned to the Winchesters. He flipped through a couple files, and said, as if neither Dean nor Andie had spoken, "With you in here, nobody else should be dying."

"Oh, that's rich!"

Pierce swung around, slamming his hands down on to the table, his face i_nches _away from Andie's. "Listen here, missy!"

She leaned forward, staring the sheriff down. "My name ain't Missy either!"

Fed up with the youngest Winchester, Sheriff Pierce spun around, so he was facing Dean, and jabbed the number written in the journal with his pointer finger. "What is this?!"

"I don't know how many times I gotta tell you. It's my old high school locker combo," he answered, innocently.

"We gonna do this all night long?"

An officer stuck his head into the room. "We just got a 911, shots fired over Whiteford Road."

The sheriff turned to the Winchesters. "Either of you have to go to the bathroom?"

"No," Dean said, and Andie shook her head.

"Good." He took out two pairs of handcuffs, and slapped one cuff over each a Winchesters' wrist, connecting the other side to the table. Once he was out of sight, Dean spotted a paper clip in Dad's journal and began twisting one end of of the paper clip into his handcuff, moving it back and forth until he heard the sweet-sounding click of it unlocking. He handed the paper clip to his sister, who completed the same task as Dean.

Dean moved to beside the door, peeking into the rest of the police station to see the officers frantically running around. "Grab the journal," he instructed.

Andie did as she was told, and joined Dean at his side, but he stopped her, manually flipping her around, and gave her a gentle shove. "Out the window!" She ran towards the window and yanked it open. The two climbed through, and down a nearby pole. They stopped at the end, and quickly, yet thoroughly glanced around, making sure none of the officers were watching, then they bolted. Andie had no idea where she was going, and she figured Dean didn't have a better clue either.

Dean then grabbed on to Andie's jacket, and jerked her into the direction of a phone booth around the corner. "C'mon!" He stepped in, Andie following, and placed change from his pockets into the slot, and dialed a number, which Andie recognized to be Sam's. Dean held the phone to his ear, and Andie pressed her phone besides Dean, so she could hear.

"Fake 911 phone call? Sammy, I don't know, that's pretty illegal," Dean said into the phone.

"I bet law school wouldn't be very happy with you," Andie added.

"You're welcome." The grin on Sam's face could be heard through the payphone.

"Listen, we gotta talk," Dean told his brother.

"Tell me about it," he agreed. "So the husband was unfaithful. We _are_ dealing with a woman in white. And she's buried behind her old house, so that should have been Dad's next stop."

"Sammy, would you shut up for a second?"

"I just can't figure out why Dad hasn't destroyed the corpse yet."

"Well, that's why I'm trying to tell you." Dean explained, "He's gone. Dad left Jericho."

"What? How do you know?"

"We've got his journal." Dean glanced at Andie, making sure the book was still with them, and hadn't been lost in their hectic escape. At the mention of the journal, Andie unconsciously tightened her grip around the leather-binds.

"He doesn't go anywhere without that thing," Sam stated.

'Yeah, well, he did this time."

"What's it say?"

"Ah, the same old ex-Marine crap, when he wants to let us know where he's going."

"Coordinates," Sam understood. "Where to?"

"I'm not sure yet."

"I don't understand. I mean, what could be so important that Dad would just skip out in the middle of a job? What the hell is going on?" Then, through the phone, Dean and Andie both heard a muffled bang. For moments after, all they heard was silence, until the next words, from a woman's voice. Words that sent both Dean and Andie into full-blown panic.

_"Take me home."_

Andie stared at her oldest brother, waiting for him to tell her what to do, but he didn't give any instructions. Instead, Dean sprinted away from the phone booth, and over to a back parking lot. He picked a car, one he knew would be easy to break into, and hot wire, which he did. Andie, who had followed Dean, running behind, now stood next to car, every other second or so, checking for any sign of humanity to bust them for their unlawful acts.

The car roared to life, and Andie immediately felt relieve wash over her. She rushed into the passenger side of the car, and Dean took off before she could even get the door shut.

Speeding down the roads, Dean ran through almost every stoplight and stop sign that he could without creating a collision, knowing that getting into a car accident wouldn't help any of them. Next to him, Andie anxiously bounced in her seat, distracting Dean endlessly. After several minutes of her fidgeting as if she was a little kid that needed to pee, Dean snapped, "Stop that!" She instantly fell still.

Within record time, Dean pulled up to the address Sam and Andie that found the previous night. As soon as the stolen car came to a full stop, he jumped out of the car, along with Andie. They approached the Chevy Impala that was in front of a beat-down house, guns blazing. They each took a side, and began shooting, shattering the windows into bits.

Constance's spirit flickered, and Sam weakly sat up, so he could set the car into drive. "I'm taking you home." Sam stomped on the gas, and the car went flying through the front wall, the house collapsing around him.

Dean and Andie ran towards the mess, calling out Sam's name. By the car's side, Dean asked, "You okay?"

"I think," Sam answered.

"Can you move?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Help me?"

Dean leaned through the window to give Sam a hand. Andie, who stood a foot behind Dean, still had her gun raised at Constance, who held a picture frame in her hands. Once both Dean and Sam were standing beside Andie, and away from the car, Constance stared up at the three Winchesters. A bureau came flying across the room and slammed the three Winchesters against the side of the car. They grunted out in pain as lights flickered and two voices from the top of the stairs spoke in unison, "You've come home to us, Mommy."

Constance looked at them, terrified. Suddenly, the two children were behind her. They embraced her tightly, and Constance screamed, as the three spirits melted into a puddle on the floor, disappearing for good.

Dean glanced at his siblings, and then they each gave the bureau a shove. It fell on to the floor, freeing them from the grip. Stepping towards where the ghosts has disappeared, where there was a small puddle, Dean said, "So, this is where she drowned her kids."

"That's why she could never go home," Sam said. "She was too scared to face them."

"You found her weak spot. Nice job, Sammy," he congratulated, patting Sam on the chest.

Sam laughed. "Yeah, I wish I could say the same for you two. What were you two thinking shooting Casper in the face, you freaks?"

"Hey, we saved your ass, didn't we?" Andie pointed out.

Her twin nodded. "Yeah, you did. Thanks for that."

"I'll tell you another thing," Dean told him, rotating around the Impala, as he examined every minuscule bit of it. "If you screwed up my car, I'll kill you!"

* * *

Sunday night. It was literally hours before Sam had his interview. The Winchesters were back in the car. No major damage had been done, except the two front windows were blown into bits, and it needed a paint job. Dean was driving, of course. Sam sat next to him, looking at a map for the coordinates Dad had provided. In the back, was Andie, staring at Sam's cell phone screen wallpaper, a picture of him and Jessica. But most importantly, Jessica. It was the girl. The exact same girl. No doubt about it. Andie, letting the realization hit her that Sam was heading back to Stanford, back to Jessica, she was worried. Especially since realizing only about twenty minutes ago, Sam was wearing the same clothes he had been wearing in her dream. This dream was her first to pay any attention to clothing. Not even when conscious did she pay attention to one's outfit, so Andie had asked to see a picture of Jessica, and Sam handed her his phone.

"Are you sure I've never met her?" Andie asked.

Sam nodded. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure. Do you want to meet her?"

"Nah, it's fine."

Sam looked back down at the map. "Okay, here's where Dad went. It's called Blackwater Ridge, Colorado."

Dean nodded. "Sounds charming. How far?"

"About six hundred miles," he answered.

"Hey, if we shag ass, we could make it by morning."

Sam looked at him. "Dean, I—"

"You're not going," he said, coldly and lifelessly.

"The interview's in like ten hours. I gotta be there."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

Andie wrapped her arms around the back of Dean and Sam's seats, pulling herself forward. "It's okay, Sammy, _we_ understand." She shot a forced a smile at Dean, who rolled his eyes, and reluctantly said, "I'll take you home."

Within an hour, they were back on Stanford's campus. This time, however, Dean parked in front of Sam's apartment building, rather than behind. Sam got out of the car, then leaned through the window. "Call me if you find him?"

"Yeah, of course," Andie responded.

"And maybe I can meet up with you later, huh?" he offered.

"Yeah, alright," Dean said, still sour. He watched Sam start to leave, but then stopped him with a "Sam?" When his brother had turned back around, Dean continued, "You know, we, the three of us, made a hell of a team back there."

"Yeah."

Andie crawled over the front seat, and plopped herself down into spot where Sam had just been sitting. She looked at her twin brother, and hesitated as she said, "Bye Sam."

Dean glanced once more at Sam, before driving off and leaving Sam alone in the darkness. Andie watched Sam for as long as she could until he became out of view. She looked back towards the font, suddenly feeling overly anxious.

"You okay?" Dean asked, shooting her a quick glance.

"I have a really bad feeling."

"What kind of bad feeling?"

"I don't know. I-I just do," she told him. "Maybe we should stay, just the night."

"Stay the night?" he raised his eyebrows, then smiled teasingly at his little sister. "Are you missing Sam already?"

"No, I just—" Andie started, but she was cut off by the radio as it turned to static.

Dean frowned, as he tried to change the station, but each one was the same. He glanced down at his watch. It had stopped, none of the tiny clock's hands moving.

"Dean, what is it?" she asked.

"You're right." He made a fast and balancing on the line between legal and illegal U-turns, and sped back towards the direction of the apartment building.

The two Winchesters darted out of the car and up the stairs, Dean leading to Sam's apartment building door. His hand was on the doorknob, when he heard his brother's screams. Without another thought, Dean kicked down the door, rushing to the room Sam's cries were coming from.

Andie froze.

"Sam!" Dean shouted. "Sam!"

Sam laid on the bed, staring at the ceiling as the hot flames dominated the room, claiming the life of a blonde girl. _Jess._ He shielded his face, as bits of the room began to fall. "No! No!"

Dean yanked Sam off of the bed, and attempted to shove Sam out of the bedroom, as his brother struggled against him. He glanced over at Andie, who wasn't moving. "Hey, Andie! Come on!"

Even though she still remained in shock, Andie obeyed, and followed her brothers out. On the way down, Andie spotted a fire alarm, and pulled it, warning all the other tenants of the burning down building they were in. Sam continued to push against Dean, as they reached outside.

"Let me save her!" Sam yelled.

"She's gone, Sam!" his brother flat out told him.

"No!" Sam cried out once more, as Dean let him go. He fell to his knees, and began to weep. "No, no."

Andie crept down beside her twin, and reached out a hand, unsure on exactly how to comfort him. Sam grabbed her hand, and pulled her towards him. He wrapped his arms around her neck, and sobbed into her shoulder, consistently muttering Jess's name, over and over. Andie shot a nervous look up at Dean, who shared a similar expression, which in a way, was sort of comforting to her. Neither knew what to make of what had just happened.

* * *

Dean stood as close as the police officers would allow, watching the firefighters work. Beside him was his sister, who gazed towards the burning building. He turned towards her, and hesitated, before saying, "How'd you know?"

Andie frowned. "Know what?"

"That something was wrong."

She laughed, her eyes switching from the flames to her big brother. "Dean, we've been doing this for how many years now? And I just had a feeling. It's not like I _really_ knew." _Lies, lies, lies__, Andie_ repeated over and over to herself, but she forced that voice in the back of her head to shut up. She glanced back at Sam who was standing beside the Impala, digging through the trunk, and loading a shotgun. He had sobered, holding all of his emotions back behind a mask of anger. She walked over, and offered a faint smile, and softly said, "Hey", but he didn't answer.

Dean shortly approached after, and glanced between the twins. He looked at Andie, who gave a small shrug_. _They both looked at Sam when they heard a clunk from him tossing the shotgun back into the trunk, Firmly, he stated, in almost a simple way, "We've got work to do."


	2. Are You There, Dad?

_I feel kinda ugh about this chapter, but I'm posting it anyway._

* * *

**Chapter Two / / **Are You There Dad?

Eight days had passed since November 2nd, the anniversary of Mary Winchester's death, and recently the death of Jessica Moore. Neither of the siblings had brought it up with each other, but they knew they didn't have too. It was weird none the less.

Andie was also still staying quiet about her dreams. They had stopped after Jessica's death, so she pushed them to the side like they were nothing. _They were just nightmares. _But they weren't. They didn't even come close. Sam was plagued with nightmares now though. He didn't really ever say so, and he never said what they were about, but both Dean and Andie figured they were about Jess.

Sam, who had been passed out in the passenger seat, jerked awake, exhibiting another nightmare. He blinked in response to abruptly gaining consciousness with Dean staring at him with concern. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Dean looked up in the rearview mirror, catching the reflection of her sister from where she sat in the backseat. They shared a similar look. Both knew that Sam was anything, _but _fine.

"Another nightmare?" Dean asked. When Sam didn't say anything, Dean continued on, almost rambling, "You know, Andie's been having nightmares too for quite some time. Must be something in the air." He paused again, then glanced over at Sam, and asked, "You wanna drive for awhile?"

Sam laughed. "Dean, your whole life you never once asked me that."

"Just thought you mind want to. Nevermind."

"Look man, you're worried about me. I get that, and thank you, both of you," he said, shooting a look back towards Andie, "But I'm perfectly okay."

"Perfectly okay, my ass," Andie muttered.

Sam didn't hear her, or as least pretended not to, as he grabbed a map off from the dashboard. "Alright, where are we?"

"We are just outside of Grand Junction," Dean answered.

Sam folded the map, revealing a large red X over the coordinates John had provided in his journal. Andie had stuffed the journal into her bag after the night at Constance's. She knew the book's safety was probably most guaranteed with her. Dean was a slob, and at the time, she hadn't known that Sam would be back on the road with them.

"You know what?" Sam started, "Maybe we shouldn't have left Stanford so soon."

"Sam, we dug around there for a week," Dean said, "We came up with nothing. If you wanna find the thing that killed Jessica—"

"We gotta find Dad first," Sam finished.

"Dad disappearing, and this thing showing up again after twenty years, it's no coincidence," Dean explained, "Dad will have answers. He'll know what to do."

"It's weird," Sam said, "These coordinates he left us. This Blackwater Ridge."

"What about it?"

"There's nothing there. It's just wood." Sam dropped the map into his lap. "Why is he sending us to the middle of nowhere?"

* * *

Andie stood against the side of the black car. Her brothers had gone inside to the ranger's office to scope out the place, while she investigated outside. She had been staring at a map in front of the small, log-built office, when Ranger Wilkinson had presented himself behind her.

"You planning on going out to Blackwater Ridge?"

Andie shook her head. "No, sir, I—" she hesitated, as her and her brothers hadn't thought of what they were disguising themselves as, "—I am with Stanford University." The first thing that had popped into her head, after spending the week, which had almost felt like years, in Palo Alto. Andie wasn't used to staying one place for so long, and it didn't help that Sam had been such a mess. Dean and Andie had allowed Sam to stay a little more than they should have in Stanford. They attended Jessica's funeral, even though Dean barely knew her, and Andie had never met her, but they went for moral support for Sam. But once the funeral came to a halt, they needed to be out of there. If they ever wanted to find Dad, then they need to keep moving, and Dad wasn't going to wait up for them.

"Stanford, that's far," the ranger said, eyeing her suspiciously.

"Yeah, no kidding." That wasn't a lie. Even with Dean behind the wheel, the drive into Colorado had been _long _and _painful. _Andie's legs had felt cramped in the backseat, and they had gone numb after awhile. She was longer used to sitting in the backseat, and of course her brothers didn't help her out with their sits adjusted all the way back. But when she read the sign, _Welcome to Lost Creek Colorado National Forest, _Andie had never felt so relieved.

She turned away from the sign, and noticed that the ranger was still staring at her, more like watching her. She shot a forced smile at him, feeling uncomfortable.

"You friends with Haley?" he asked.

"Haley...?" She took a shot, and responded with a "yes."

"You tell her when you see her to stop worrying," Ranger Wilkinson demanded.

"Oh, yes, sir."

The ranger wasn't budging. He continued to stand by the map, watching Andie. Realizing that he was waiting for her to go first, Andie retreated back into the Chevy Impala, satisfying the older man as he returned to the office.

Andie fell back across the the seats, and let out a huff. She stared at the car's ceiling, her eyes following where she had scribbled on during one of the million times she was bored in the backseat as they were stopped at a gas station, or John interviewed a witness, or even sometimes they were left in the car during a hunt. Even though she was only about four, she remembered her father's fury when he found the drawing in red marker. As he cursed and muttered under his breath, shooting every once awhile a death glare towards his youngest, and even Dean for not watching Andie better, he attempted to scrub the markings off. Most of it had come off, but there was still a faint marking that only Andie could make out. She remembered watching her father scrub at it, feeling terrified. It might have been the first time Andie could remember ever feeling scared of her father, but it certainly wasn't the last. There was many times growing up where John would become angry with Andie or one of her brothers, and most of the time, he would only show his anger through passively aggressive ways. When Andie got into her early teen years, it no longer worried her, but rather drove her insane. Even through the shitty childhood, there was still something that made Andie love John and wanted him to just be okay. Each sibling had called their father so many times than they could count, but they always reached that stupid, little message telling them that the number was out of service. It was insanely maddening. She was slightly angry with her father for giving them such a sketchy voicemail, only to drop off the face of the planet. And if John wasn't here in Blackwater Ridge, than Andie might just lose her mind.

She huffed out hot air, sliding herself up so her head was pressed against the window. She turned her head, so she could peer out it barely, but enough to see when her brothers were climbing down the steps of the lodge. She stepped out of the car, and met them halfway. "You get anything?"

"Dean's cruising for a hookup or something," Sam said, sourly.

"What do you mean?" Dean questioned.

"The coordinates point to Blackwater Ridge, so what are we waiting for? Let's just go find Dad. I mean, why _even_ talk to this girl?"

"I don't know, maybe we should know what we're walking into before we actually walk into it?" Dean said, shooting Sam the look that when they were little had been nicknamed the 'duh' face.

Catching that Andie was giving him a similar look, Sam asked both his siblings, "What?"

"Since when are you all shoot first ask questions later, anyway?"

"Since now."

* * *

Using the address he had gotten off of the backcountry permit from the ranger, Dean pulled in front of the house of the Collins family. He lead the way to the front screen door, and gave a knock. A young, brunette woman came to the door, eyeing the three strangers in front of her warily.

"You must be Haley Collins. I'm Dean, this is Sam, and this is Andie, we—we're rangers with the Park Service," Dean told her. "Ranger Wilkinson sent us over. He wanted us to ask a few questions 'bout your brother Tommy."

"Lemme see some ID," she instructed.

Dean held out a fake ID against the door's screen. Haley glanced it over, then back at the Winchesters. She gave the door a push, and it flew open. "Come on in."

"Thanks."

"That yours?" Haley asked, speaking of the Impala.

"Yeah," Dean answered.

"Nice car," she complimented, shooting a flirty smile to Dean, which received an eye roll from Andie.

Dean looked back at his siblings, a smirk on his face, which this time, got Sam to roll his eyes.

The Winchesters followed Haley through the small home and into a kitchen. A boy, younger than Haley, sat at the table on his laptop.

"If Tommy's not expected back for a couple of weeks, what makes you think something's up?" Andie asked.

Haley reentered with bowls and silverware, and began to set up for dinner as she talked, "He checks in every day by cell. He emails, photos, stupid little videos. We haven't heard anything in over three days now."

"Well, maybe he can't get cell reception," Sam suggested.

"He's got a satellite phone too."

"Could it be he's just having fun and forgot to check in?" Dean asked.

"He wouldn't do that," the boy spoke up.

"Our parents are gone. It's just my two brothers and me," Haley explained, "We all keep pretty close tabs on each other."

"Can I see the pictures he sent you?" Sam asked.

"Yeah." Haley pulled over the laptop, and began directing through the pictures, clicking through until she got to a video. She pressed play.

"Hey Haley, day six," Tommy said, "we're still out near Blackwater Ridge. We're fine, keeping safe, so don't worry, okay? Talk to you tomorrow."

"Well, we'll find your brother," Dean reassured her, "We're heading out to Blackwater Ridge first thing."

"Then maybe I'll see you there," she said. Off the Winchesters' looks, she added, "Look, I can't sit around here anymore. So I hired a guy. I'm heading out in the morning, and I'm gonna find Tommy myself."

* * *

The Winchesters sat at table in the back of some, local crowded bar. The air smelled of a mixture of sweat and whiskey, but they had spent their fair share of time in bars growing up that they had become obvious to the odd smells.

"So, Blackwater Ridge doesn't get a lot of traffic," Sam said, as he placed newspaper articles from _The Lost Creek Gazette _on to the table in front of his siblings. "Local campers, mostly. But still, this past April, two hikers went missing out there. They were never found."

"Any before that?" Dean asked.

Sam pushed the articles towards his brother and sister. "Yeah, in 1982, eight different people all vanished in the same year. Authorities said it was a grizzly attack."

Both Dean and Andie looked at the paper in front of them, headlined:

**GRIZZLY BEAR ATTACKS!**  
_UP TO EIGHT HIKERS VANISH IN LOST CREEK AREA_  
_HIKERS DISAPPEARANCE BAFFLE AUTHORITIES'_

Sam grabbed his laptop from his back, and placed it on the table in front of him. "And again in 1959, and again before that in 1936." He opened the computer, which already had Tommy's video preloaded on the screen. "Every twenty-three years, just like clockwork. Okay. Watch this," he directed. "I downloaded that guy Tommy's video to my laptop. Check this out." Sam clicked three times, showing three different frames.

"Do it again."

Sam obeyed. From the slowed down version, it became distinctly visible that a shadow of _something _had moved right behind Tommy's tent shortly before what they supposed to be an attack.

"Okay, so any idea of what we're dealing with?" Andie asked.

"I don't know, but that's three frames. That's a fraction of a second. Whatever that thing is, it can move."

Dean lightly punched Sam in the arm. "Told you something weird was going on."

"Yeah. I got one more thing," Sam held up another, printed-out news article. "In 'fifty-nine one camper survived this supposed grizzly attack. Just a kid. Barely crawled out of the woods alive."

Andie glanced over the article. "Dude got a name?"

"Richard Shaw."

* * *

"It moves too fast for the visible eye, it hides well, roars, has claws, and it can unlock doors," Andie listed the details that Mr. Shaw had told her and her brothers, glancing back at the closed apartment door of the elderly man which they had just interviewed. "He also said it was some kind of demon."

"Spirits and demons don't have to unlock doors. If they want inside, they just go through walls," Dean stated.

"So, it's probably something else," Sam said, "something corporeal."

"_Corporeal_?" Dean parroted, "Excuse me, professor."

"Shut up. So what do you think?"

"The claws, the speed that it moves. Could be a skinwalker," Dean suggested.

"Black dog?" Andie offered. "Whatever the thing is, it's some kind of creature."

Dean stopped at the end of the hall, turning towards his siblings. "And it's corporeal, which means we can kill it." He exited the door, with Sam and Andie following behind, walking towards the spot where his car was parked. He lifted the trunk, and glanced once around, before placing a gun to keep open the secret compartment full of their weaponry as he searched through out it.

Sam joined his side. "We cannot let that Haley girl go out there."

"Oh yeah? What are we gonna tell her?" Dean asked, "That she can't go into the woods because of a big scary monster?"

"Yeah," Sam said, completely serious.

Andie stood to the other side of Dean. "She goes out there, she's gonna get killed."

"Her brother's missing. She's not gonna just sit this out," Dean said. "Now we go with her, we protect her, and we keep our eyes peeling for our fuzzy predator friend."

"Finding Dad's not enough?" Sam slammed the weapon box and trunk shut. "Now we gotta babysit too?"

"Hey—" Andie started, but Dean put out a hand in front of her chest, and she understand just what he meant.

"What?" Sam asked.

"Nothing." Dean tossed a duffel bag at Sam, and walked over the driver's side of the Impala.

* * *

Haley was already at the trail when the Winchesters arrived the next morning. Sam huffed, annoyed, and Andie whispered a small,"be nice", while Dean stepped out of the car, with his usual cocky grin.

"You guys got room for three more?" Dean asked, heading towards Haley, her brother, and another man, who must have been the guy she hired.

"Wait, you want to come with us?" Haley questioned.

"Who are these people?" the man asked Haley.

"Apparently this is all the park service could muster up for the search and rescue."

"You're rangers?" he then asked the Winchesters.

"That's right," Dean answered in a fake southern accent.

"And you're hiking out in biker boots and jeans?" Haley interrogated.

He glanced his outfit up and down, before looking back at Haley. "Well, sweetheart, I don't do shorts."

"What, you think this is funny?" the man asked, "It's dangerous back country out there. Her brother might be hurt."

"Believe me, I know how dangerous it can be. We just wanna help them find their brother, that's all."

* * *

It was almost an hour of walking. Almost an hour of complete, awkward silence. Haley and Ben were swimming themselves in worry. Roy was being a confident bastard, and the Winchesters knew that he actually had no idea what he was dealing with. Sam was still not happy about having the Collins come along. And Dean, he kept shooting flirty looks and smiles towards Haley. An hour deep into the woods, Roy finally declared, "This is it. Blackwater Ridge."

"What coordinates are we at?" Sam asked.

Roy pulled out his GPS from a coat pocket. "Thirty five, minus one-eleven." The same coordinates John had written in his journal. But looking around, there was no sign that he was there or had even been there.

"You hear that?" Dean asked his siblings.

Andie shook her head. "Nothing."

"Yeah. Not even crickets," Sam added.

"I'm gonna go take a look around," Roy announced.

Sam whipped around. "You shouldn't go off by yourself."

Roy smirked. "That's sweet. Don't worry about me." He passed through in between Sam and Dean, disappearing into another section of the forest.

Dean turned to the remainder of the group. "Alright, everybody stays together. Let's go."

They continued on through out the woods without Roy, until they heard him call out with urgency in his tone, "Haley! Over here!" The five took off towards where the direction of the hunter's voice. He stood at a campsite with two gray, broken, slashed tents. Both were stained with blood.

"Oh my God," Haley gasped.

"Looks like a grizzly," Roy offered.

"Tommy?" Haley called out. "Tommy!" She dropped her pack, and moved to the side of the campsite, yelling out into the trees.

Sam followed her. "Shh."

"Tommy!"

"Shh!" Sam hushed her again, standing beside her.

She glanced up at him. "Why?"

"Something might still be out there."

"Sam, Andie!" Dean called from another point. He was crouched on the ground, staring at markings in the dirt. Once his brother and sister were crouching beside him, he said, "The bodies were dragged from the campsite. But here, the tracks just vanish. That's weird." He stood, as so did Sam and Andie. "I'll tell you what. That's no skinwalker or black dog." As they started towards the others, there was a scream.

"Help! Help!"

Roy ran towards the yells, with his gun pointed ahead. Dean also took out his gun, as the others followed towards the distressed voice.

"Help! Somebody!"

They neared the voice, chasing after it, guns blazing. Neither knew exactly what they were going to stumble upon. If a bullet would even work. Or who was the man being tortured by the creature? Was it Tommy and his friends? Or was it another guy who had recently also become the prey of whatever kind of monster they were dealing with. But as they pushed through the last bit of woods, they came upon _nothing. _Everything went silent with the voice no longing hollering.

"It sounded like it was coming from around here, didn't it?" Haley asked.

"Everyone back to camp," Sam decided.

The group trudged back towards the campsite, but there, all of these bags were gone.

"Our packs!" Haley exclaimed.

"So much for my GPS and my satellite phone," Roy said, crouching on the ground.

"What the hell is going on?"

"It's smart. It wants to cut us off so we can't call for help," Sam explained.

"You mean someone, some nut job out there just stole all our gear?" Roy asked.

Sam didn't answer, but instead, moved to Dean. "I need to speak with you. In private." He looked back at Andie. "You too." He lead the way away from the others, and when he got to a spot when they were just out of hearing distance, he said. "Good. Let me see Dad's journal."

Andie handed over the book to her twin, who began to flip through it.

"Alright, check that out." Sam pushed the book towards his siblings.

"Oh, come on. Wendigos are in the Minnesota woods, or northern Michigan," Dean stated, "I've never even heard of one this far west."

"Think about it, Dean. The claws, the way it can mimic a human voice."

"Great," Dean held up his gun. "Well, this is useless."

Sam gave Dad's journal back to Andie on his way past, but not before adding, "We gotta get these people to safety." Joining the others back at the campsite, Sam announced, "Alright, listen up. It's time to go. Things have gotten...more complicated."

"What?" Haley asked.

"Kid, don't worry. Whatever's out there, I think I can handle it," Roy said.

"It's not me I'm worried about. If you shoot this thing, you're just gonna make it mad. We have to leave. _Now._"

"One, you're talking nonsense," Roy started, "Two, you're in no position to give anybody orders."

"Relax," Dean directed.

"We never should have let you come out here in the first place, alright?" Sam said, "I'm trying to protect you."

"You protect me?" Roy echoed, making his way to inches before Sam's face. "I was hunting these woods when your mommy was still kissing you good night."

"Yeah?" Sam asked. "It's a damn near perfect hunter. It's smarter than you, and it's gonna hunt you down and eat you alive unless we get your stupid sorry ass out of here."

Roy laughed. "You know you're crazy, right?"

"Yeah? You ever hunt a wen—" Dean pushed Sam away, commanding him to "Chill out."

Haley stepped in between Sam and Roy. "Stop. Stop it. Everybody, just stop. Look, Tommy might still be alive. And I'm not leaving without him.

"It's getting late," Dean stated. "This thing is a good hunter in the day, but an unbelievable hunter. We'll never beat it, not in the dark. We need to settle in and protect ourselves."

"How?"

Sam turned away, and started for another way. Dean shot a look at Andie, and she obeyed his silent order, while he informed Haley on exactly what they needed to do.

Andie followed Sam with a distance of about twenty steps behind over a log, which Sam sat upon. Andie leaned against a nearby tree, watching Sam.

"Dean send you over here to watch me?" Sam asked, not even bothering to look at Andie. When she didn't say anything, he grumbled, "I knew it was a bad idea to let them go out here."

Andie unconsciously took a step closer. "Hey, I didn't disagree with you. But you could be a little nicer."

Sam glanced over at her. "What?"

She shrugged. "I'm just saying."

The twins fell into silence. Andie began to fidget with her sleeve, bored out of her mind. Once in awhile she thought of returning back to Dean, but he had his "flirty" smile on, which Andie always tried so hard to avoid. She turned back to Sam, then the sky above. Night was quickly falling upon them as the stars began to become visible. "The stars are pretty," she whispered, and then sighed. She looked once more over at the others, and saw Dean finally heading over towards them.

Dean took a seat beside Sam on the log. "You wanna tell me what's going on in that freaky head of yours?"

"Dean—"

"No, you're not fine," Dean cut off Sam, "You're like a powder keg, man. It's not like you. I'm supposed to be the belligerent one, remember?"

"Dad's not here. I mean, that much we know for sure, right?" Sam said, "He would have left us a message, a sign, right?"

"Yeah, you're probably right," Dean agreed, "Tell you the truth, I don't think Dad's ever been to Lost Creek."

"Then let's get these people back to town and let's hit the road. Go find Dad. I mean, why are we still even here?"

Dean moved so he was across from Sam. "Andie, can I see Dad's journal?"

She gave her eldest brother the journal.

Holding it out, Dean said, "This is why. This book. This is Dad's single most valuable possession. Everything he knows about every evil thing is in here. And he's passed it on to us. I think he wants us to pick up where he left off. You know, saving people, hunting things, the family business."

"That makes no sense," Sam commented, "Why doesn't he just call us? Why doesn't he tell us what he wants? Tell us where he is?"

"'Cause he's Dad," Andie added in, "Everything about that man's always been a mystery."

"The way I see it, " Dean said, "Dad's giving us a job to do, and I intend to do it."

"Dean, no. I gotta find Dad. I gotta find Jessica's killer," Sam paused, "It's the only thing I can think about."

"Okay, alright. Sam, we'll find them, I promise," Dean assured him, "Listen to me, you've gotta prepare yourself. I mean, this search could take awhile, and all that anger, you can't keep it burning over the long haul. It's gonna kill you. You gotta have patience, man."

"How do you two do it?" Sam asked, "How does Dad do it?"

Dean looked over at Haley and Ben, who sat beside the fire. "Well for one, them. I mean, I figure our family's so screwed to hell, maybe we can help some others. Make things a little more bearable." He then added, "I'll tell you what else helps. Killing as many evil sons of bitches as I possibly can." He shared a smile with his brothers.

"Help me!" the mysterious voice from before cried out again.

The Winchesters returned to the others, who were now all standing and listening to the cries.

"Please! Help!"

"He's trying to draw us out. Just stay cool, stay put," Dean ordered.

"Inside the magic circle?" Roy offered with a bit of sarcasm.

"Help! Help me!" Something growled, and the voice trailed off in a scream.

"Okay, that's no grizzly," Roy determined.

"It's okay. You'll be alright, I promise," Haley said to Ben.

There was another growl, and a sound of trees rustling.

Sam turned towards the noise with the flashlight in his hand. "It's here."

The creature continued to move, back and forth, with Roy firing his gun over and over, until it eventually stopped, turning still. "I hit it!" Roy exclaimed, as he darted towards where he had shot.

"Roy, no! Roy!" Dean called after him. He turned towards his sister, instructing, "Ann, stay with them", as he and Sam chased after Roy.

Andie directed Haley and Ben towards the circle Dean had drawn earlier with a stick, while they heard Roy yell, "It's over here! It's in the tree!", another growl, and then Dean call Roy's name.

* * *

Haley knelt on the ground. Ben was sitting a few feet away, and Dean was behind her. Andie watched Dean as he examined a tree, where three distinct scratch marks were across the bark. It had been an hour or so since the sun had rose. Sam had went on his own again, taking Dad's journal with him, but this time, Dean and Andie didn't follow after.

"I don't...I mean, these types of things, they aren't supposed to be real," Haley said.

"I wish I could tell you different," Dean told her.

"How do we know it's not out there watching us?" Haley asked.

"We don't," Andie said flatly.

Dean crouched down beside Haley. "But we're safe for now."

"How do you know about this stuff?" she questioned.

"Kind of runs in the family."

Sam made his way over. "Hey. So we've got half a chance in the daylight. And I for one want to kill this evil son of a bitch."

"Well, hell, you know I'm in," Dean said.

Sam opened to the page on Wendigo's in John's journal. He showed it Haley and Ben as he explained, "Wendigo is a Cree Indian word. It means 'evil that devours'."

"They're hundreds of years old. Each one was once a man. Sometimes an Indian, or other times a frontiersman or a miner or a hunter," Dean described.

"How's a man turn into one things?" Haley wondered.

"Well, it's always the same. During some harsh winter, a guy finds himself starving, cut off from supplies or help. Becomes a cannibal to survive, eating other members of his tribe or camp."

"Like the Donner Party," Ben said.

"Cultures all over the world believe that eating human flesh gives a person certain abilities. Speed, strength, immortality," Sam listed.

"The more you eat of it, the less human you become," Andie said.

"And you're always hungry," Dean added.

"So if that's true, how can Tommy still be alive?" Haley asked.

The Winchester siblings shared a look with each other, before Dean said, "You're not gonna like it."

"Tell me," she demanded.

"More than anything, a wendigo knows how to last long winters without food. It hibernates for years at a time, but when it's awake it keeps its victims alive. It, uh, it stores them, so it can feed whenever it wants. If your brother's alive, it's keeping him somewhere dark, hidden, and safe. We gotta track it back there."

"And then how do we stop it?" Haley interrogated.

"Well, guns are useless, so are knives," Dean held up a red can of lighter fluid, a beer bottle, and a white cloth, discarded items he found around. "Basically, we gotta torch the sucker."

* * *

The claw markings Dean found in the tree turned out to make a trail of its own, which Sam spotted as they continued down the trail, still on the hunt for the wendigo and Tommy. He called over his siblings, who came running to their brother's finding. Though unlike the scratches Dean had found, these were stained with blood.

"You know, I was thinking, those claw prints, so clear and distinct," Sam said, "They were almost too easy to follow."

Something rustled in the trees as there was another loud growling noise.

Haley screamed, as the dead body of Roy fell from a tree.

Sam helped her to her feet. "You okay? You got it?"

Dean crouched beside Roy's body. "His neck's broken."

The wendigo continued to growl.

"Okay, run, run, run, run, go, go, go!"

They all took off, running as fast as they could for their lives. That was, until Ben tripped over a tree root, and took a fall. Sam and Andie, who both became aware of his fall, stopped, as Sam helped him up. "Come on, I gotcha, I gotcha." They continued to run, following Dean and Haley who were ahead.

Haley screamed, and the three only ran faster, but there was nothing. Haley and Dean were gone.

"Haley?" Ben called.

Andie spotted something on the ground, and grabbed it to examine the contraption. It was Dean's homemade torch, the bottle bottle.

Sam noticed what she was staring at, then yelled, "Dean!"

"Great," she mumbled.

"Are they gonna be okay?" Ben asked, "Are _we_ gonna be okay?"

"Yeah, everyone's gonna be just fine, kid," Andie mumbled distracted.

"We should keep walking," Sam said.

"If it keeps its victims alive, why would it kill Roy?" Ben interrogated.

"Honestly? I think because Roy shot at it, pissed it off."

Ben leaned down, and picked up a blue M&amp;M among others. "They went this way."

Sam took the candy, and with a small chuckle, said, "Better than breadcrumbs."

Dean's trail of M&amp;M's brought the twins and Ben to a mine with a sign reading, _WARNING! DANGER! DO NOT ENTER EXTREMELY TOXIC MATERIAL _beside the doorway, along with another sign that read, _KEEP OUT NO ADMITTANCE_ above, but still they continued on, knowing better, and knowing that it was perfect spot for a monster to hide its victims.

Sam guided the way through the mine, as he held on to the flashlight. There was a growl, and Sam grabbed Ben and Andie, and yanked them over to the side, as they watched the wendigo exit the cave. As Ben was about to scream, Sam covered his mouth, and shushed him silently.

Once the wendigo was out of sight, the three headed down the direction where the monster had come from. As they were walking, they heard a creak. They stopped, glancing around to see if the wendigo was back, but then suddenly the ground below them broke, and fell through a trapped door. Ben landed just beside a pile of bones, causing him to squirm in fear. Sam jumped up, and reassured him, "Hey, it's okay."

Andie stood. "Sam..."

Sam and Ben both looked over at Andie, then where she was gazing. Dean and Haley were hanging by her wrists, attached to the ceiling. Sam and Andie bolted to Dean, while Ben went to Haley.

"Dean," Sam said, shaking him awake.

Ben did the same, shaking his sister, "Haley, wake up!"

Dean's eyes opened.

"Hey, you okay?" Sam asked.

He winced. "Yeah."

"Haley, Haley, wake up!" Ben repeated. "Wake up!"

Sam worked to get Dean down, as Andie helped Ben to get Haley down. Sam lead Dean over to where Haley sat.

"You sure you're alright?" Sam asked.

Dean grimaced. "Yeah. Yep. Where is he?"

"Not here," Andie answered.

Haley leaped up, and with the help of Ben, she walked over to where Tommy hang just like she and Dean had been a minute ago. Sam followed them over.

"Tommy..." Haley whispered. She pressed a hand against her older brother's face. She then shrieked, jumping back, as Tommy jerked awake. She turned to Sam. "Cut him down!"

Sam took his knife and sliced the ropes which were attached to Tommy's wrists.

"Check it out," Dean said, holding a pair of flare guns."

"Flare guns. Those'll work." Sam grinned.

Dean handed one to Sam, as he lead the group out of the mine when there was another growl.

"Looks like someone's home for supper," Dean commented.

"We'll never outrun it," Haley said.

Dean looked back at his siblings. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Yeah, I think so," Sam said.

"Alright, listen to me," Dean began, "Stay with Sam and Andie. They're gonna get you out of here."

"What are you gonna do?" Haley asked.

Dean winked, then started walking away, yelling, "Chow time, you freaky bastard! Yeah, that's right, bring it on, baby! I taste good."

"Alright, come on! Hurry!" Sam said, directing the others out of the mine. As they were walking, the wendigo started to once again growl, letting his presence be known.

Sam turned to Andie, "Get them out of there."

"Sam, no," Haley said.

"It's alright," Andie promised, stepping forward, motioning for them to follow, but still Haley hesitated.

"Go, go, go!" Sam commanded.

"Come on, Haley!" Ben added.

Haley had one arm around Tommy's waist as Ben had one of his arms around his brother's waist as well, while they followed Andie the end of the mine.

There was the sound of a shot firing. They all glanced back, then suddenly Sam was bolting after them.

"Sam!" Haley cried.

"Come on, hurry, hurry, hurry," Sam repeated.

They ran and ran, until finally they saw a source of light, but the wendigo was still on their asses, and it was growling from what seemed to be everywhere.

"Get behind me," Sam directed, as he stepped in front of the Collins.

The wendigo was quickly approaching them, when a familiar voice yelled out, "Hey!" The monster turned towards Dean, as he shot it, and went up in flames.

* * *

Andie stood beside the Impala, fidgeting with John's journal. Dean was talking with Haley, while Sam watched Ben as he was interviewed by a police officer, making sure he kept up with their false story. The EMTs were loading Tommy into an ambulance.

Andie glanced up to see Haley place a kiss on Dean's cheek, which she couldn't help but let a chuckle out at about. _Of course. _"I hope you find your father." She started for the ambulance with Ben, but turned around, and said, "Thanks Sam, thanks Andie."

Sam and Dean watched the Collins family step into the ambulance, disappearing behind the doors as the EMTs' shut them, and then they were off, the sirens sounding. Once the emergency vehicle was on the road, Sam and Dean moved towards where their sister stood, standing on each side of her, also pressing their backs against the car.

"Man, I hate camping," Dean complained.

"Me too," Sam agreed.

"Couldn't agree more," Andie said, exasperated.

Dean's face scrunched up for a moment, as he thought, then turned to both his siblings. "You know we're gonna find Dad, right?"

"Yeah, I know," Andie said, looking down.

"But in the meantime?" Sam smirked, looking over at Dean, "I'm driving."

Dean smiled softly, as he tossed his brother the keys to his beloved car.


	3. Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary

**Chapter Three / / **Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary

The Winchesters were still clueless on their father's whereabouts. They lacked a lead, and each were getting tired and frustrated as their father failed to just answer the goddamn phone. But in the mean time, they were not only on the hunt for John, but they were also taking as many hunts for supernatural creatures as they could. They had dealt with a spirit haunting a lake, who was terrorizing his childhood bullies and their families by drowning them. After that, they hunted a demon who was getting its kicks off plane destruction, possessing passengers so it could cause the plane to crash. There had been a lot of driving, which meant Andie was again cramped in the backseat for miles. But she found some relief at the moment, as she sat shotgun, while Sam was sprawled out across the backseats, passed out. She gripped their latest hunt in her hands, or rather what drew them to the conclusion that there was a possible hunt. Steven Shoemaker's obituary. It said little on his death, but there was the couple sentences late in the article which Dean had circled, stating that the man's eyes were gone when his daughter found him dead.

"It says they're having a service for him at two," Andie read.

"I know," Dean replied simply.

"You know?" Andie stared at her brother with her head tilted and her brows furrowed, then she let out an 'ah', nodding. "You already knew that."

Dean smiled small. "Why do you think we left so early? I sure didn't want to."

"Alright, so we're gonna crash a funeral?" Andie asked.

"Wasn't that idea you were getting at?" he questioned, glancing once towards his sister's direction.

She shrugged. "I'm just asking."

Dean opened his mouth to say something more, as he pulled in front of the hospital, but he was cut off as Sam started to fidget in the backseat, groaning, and softly calling out Jess's name in his sleep. He was suffering from another nightmare. As they got worse and Sam continued to receive a lack of sleep, Andie felt almost as if she was swimming in guilt. She knew it was stupid, somewhere in the back of her mind, but she couldn't help blame herself at least a little for her recurring nightmare of Jessica's death. She should have warned Sam. But warned Sam what? _Hey, I know we haven't talked in years, and you probably think I hate you, but by the way, I keep dreaming about your girlfriend dying. _Andie hadn't even known that Jessica was his girlfriend at the time though. Part of her believed it was all silly. She couldn't have known. But there was another part in her that knew from the start that they were never just dreams. So, now, here Sam was, nightmare after nightmare, dreaming about his dead girlfriend when Andie could have done something to change it. So, yeah, all she saw was that she was to blame for Jess's death.

As Sam continued to flail around, still whispering Jessica's name, Dean alternated his eyes from his brother to his sister. "Sam. Sam. Sammy!"

Andie rolled up the newspaper article in her hands, then shifted herself, so she was facing the backseat, leaning towards Sam, as she whacked him in the head. "Sammy, wake up!"

Sam awoke, confused. His eyes opened to his twin's smiling face, greeting him with a "Good morning, sunshine", before flipping back around towards the front.

"I take it I was having a nightmare?" Sam guessed.

"Yeah, another one," Dean emphasized.

"Are you alright?" Andie asked.

Sam didn't answer, but instead offered, "At least I got some sleep."

"You know, sooner or later, we're gonna have to talk about this," Dean told him.

"Are we here?" Sam asked, glancing around.

"Yup," Dean responded, "Welcome to Toledo, Ohio."

Sam grabbed the newspaper article off from the floor, where Andie had dropped it. He gave it quick read over, then asked, "So what do you think really happened to this guy?"

"That's what we're gonna find out."

* * *

In the morgue's office, the Winchesters first passed one desk, empty and with a name tag which read, _Dr. D. Feiklowicz. _At the desk beside it, there was a middle-aged man.

"Hey," the middle-aged morgue technician greeted the three.

"Hey," Dean responded back.

"Can I help you?" the man asked.

"Yeah. We're the, uh..."

"Med students," Andie finished.

Dean nodded. "Right, the med students."

The morgue technician continued to stare. "Sorry?"

"Oh Doctor Figlavitch didn't tell you?" Dean asked, stumbling over the name from the other desk, "We talked to him on the phone. He, uh, we're from Ohio State. He's supposed to show us the Shoemaker corpse. It's for our paper."

"Well, I'm sorry, he's at lunch," the morgue technician explained.

"Oh, well, he said, uh...oh, well, you know, it doesn't matter. You don't mind just showing us the body, do you?" Dean asked.

"Sorry, I can't," the man said, "Doc will be back in an hour. You can wait for him if you want."

"An hour?" Dean echoed, "Oh. We've gotta be heading back to Columbus by then." He looked over at his siblings.

"Yeah, we've got that class," Andie added lamely.

"Uh, look, man, this paper's like half our grade, so if you don't mind helping us out—" Dean tried again.

"Uh, look, man, no."

Dean laughed a little as he turned around, grumbling something along the lines of, "I'm gonna hit him in the face I swear."

Sam stepped forward, patting Dean on the arm as he pushed him away. He took out his wallet, and laid out a at least five twenties on to the table in front of the morgue technician.

The morgue technician, with a feeling of satisfaction, picked up the money from off of the desk, and instructed, "Follow me." He got up from the desk, and headed for where the Shoemaker corpse was being held. Sam started after him, but Dean grabbed on to his brother's arm, stopping him. Andie stopped as well, watching her brothers' interaction.

"Dude, I earned that money," Dean protested.

"You won it in a poker game," Sam retorted.

"Yeah."

Sam turned away, and followed after the morgue technician, with Andie and Dean both walking behind, and entering the room where the morgue technician had rolled out the body.

"Now, the newspaper said his daughter found him," Sam said to the man," She said his eyes were bleeding."

The morgue technician, with his hands now covered in gloves, folded back the sheet over the body. Under the sheet revealed two empty eye sockets.

"More than that. They practically liquefied."

"Any sign of a struggle? Maybe somebody did it to him?" Dean asked.

"Nope," the morgue tech answered, "Besides the daughter, he was all alone."

"What's the official cause of death?" Sam interrogated.

"Ah, Doc's not sure," he answered, "He's thinking massive stroke, maybe an aneurysm? Something burst up in there, that's for sure."

"What do you mean?"

"Intense cerebral bleeding," the man said, "This guy had more blood in his skull than anyone I've ever seen."

"What causes that?" Andie wondered.

"Capillaries can burst. See a lot of bloodshot eyes with stroke victims."

"Yeah? You ever see exploding eyeballs?" Dean asked.

"That's a first for me, but hey, I'm not the doctor."

"Hey, think we could take a look at that police report? You know for, uh, our paper."

"I'm not really supposed to show you that."

Sam once again yanked out his wallet.

* * *

The three siblings entered the home, which had belonged to Steven Shoemaker. The address of the house had been printed along with the obituary, stating that the wake was a 'welcome all'. They asked an older man where to find Shoemaker's daughter, and he pointed them towards the backyard to where a group of teenage daughters sat.

"You must be Donna, right?" Dean asked.

"Yeah," one of the girls spoke up.

"Hi, uh, we're really sorry," Sam apologized.

"Thank you."

"I'm Sam, this is Dean, and this is Andie," Sam said, "We worked with your dad."

Donna looked at the two other girls, then back at the Winchesters. "You did?"

"Yeah. This whole thing. I mean, a stroke," Dean started.

"I don't think she really wants to talk about this right now," one of the other girls cut him off.

"It's okay. I'm okay," Donna reassured.

"Were there any symptoms? Dizziness? Migraines?" Dean asked.

Donna shook her head. "No."

The girl beside Donna spun around. "That's because it wasn't a stroke."

"Lily, don't say that," Donna patronized.

"What?" Sam questioned.

Donna looked up at Sam. "I'm sorry. She's just upset."

"No, it happened because of me," Lily said.

"Sweetie, it didn't."

Sam crossed over to Lily, and knelt in front of her, asking softly, "Lily, why would you say something like that?"

"Right before he died, I said it."

"Said what?" Andie asked.

"Bloody Mary, three times in the bathroom mirror," she explained, "She took his eyes, that's what she does."

"That's not why Dad died. This isn't your fault," Donna comforted her sister.

"I think your sister's right, Lily," Dean added, "There's no way it could have been Bloody Mary. Your dad didn't say it, did he?"

"No, I don't think so."

Excusing themselves, the Winchesters returned inside the home, and sneaked themselves up the stairs and into the bathroom, even though there was an obvious unspoken rule not to enter. Sam pushed open the door, revealing blood stains still on the floor. "The Bloody Mary legend," he stated, "Dad ever find any evidence that it was a real thing?"

Dean switched on the light. "Not that I know of."

"I mean, everywhere all over the country, kids will play Bloody Mary, and as far as we know, nobody dies from it."

"Yeah, well, maybe everywhere it's just a story, but here it's actually happening."

"The place where the legend began?" Sam offered.

Andie scoffed. "In Toledo, Ohio?"

Dean shrugged and swung open the door to the medicine cabinet.

"But according to the legend, the person who says—" Sam stopped, as he shot himself a look into the mirror attached to the cabinet door. He slammed it shut. "The person who says you know what gets it. But here—"

"The father got it," Andie completed.

"Right."

"Never heard anything like that before," Dean said, "Still, the guy did did right in front of the mirror, and his daughter's right. The way the legend goes, you know who scratches your eyes out."

"It's worth checking in to," Sam said.

The three froze as they heard the sound of footsteps coming down the hall. They ran to the door, where one of the girls from downstairs appeared.

"What are you doing in here?" she asked.

"We—we, had to go the bathroom," Dean lied.

"Who are you?"

"Like we said downstairs, we worked with Donna's dad," he said.

"He was a day trader or something. He worked by himself."

"No, I know, I mean—"

The girl stopped him. "And all those weird questions downstairs, what was that? So you tell me what's going on, or I start screaming."

"Alright, alright. We think something happened to Donna's dad," Sam answered truthfully.

"Yeah, a stroke."

"No, not a stroke," Andie said.

Sam stepped in front of his twin sister. "That's not the typical stroke. We think it might be something else."

"Like what?" she questioned.

"Honestly? We don't know yet," Sam told her, "But we don't want it to happen to anyone else. That's the truth."

"So, if you're gonna scream, go right ahead," Dean said.

"Who are you, cops?" she asked.

Dean shared a look with his brother and sister. "Something like that."

"I'll tell you what. Here." Sam reached into his pocket, and pulled out a piece of scrap paper and a pen, and scribbled down his phone number on to the paper. "If you think of anything, you or your friends notice anything strange, out of the ordinary, just give us a call." Sam handed her the paper, walking past her beside Dean and Andie.

* * *

The Winchesters found themselves on a hunt for a woman who was the supposed Bloody Mary, but they found themselves coming up empty. Dean and Andie sat at the motel kitchen table, covered in articles and books over the years, searching for anything that may relate. Sam had fallen asleep on one of the beds, but when he gasped out, both Dean and Andie glanced over to find him awake.

"Why'd you let me fall asleep?" Sam asked.

"'Cause I'm an awesome brother," Dean answered.

"What'd you dream about?" Andie questioned.

"Lollipops and candy canes," her twin replied.

"Yeah, sure," Dean responded , unconvinced.

Sam looked over. "Did you find anything?"

"Oh besides a whole new level of frustration? No," Dean said sarcastically. "We've looked at everything. A few local women, a Laura and a Catherine committed suicide in front of a mirror."

"A giant mirror fell on to a man named Dave," Andie added.

"But no Mary's."

Sam fell back on to the bed. "Maybe we just haven't found it yet."

"Well, get your ass over here and help, 'cause we've got nothing," Andie said, pushing away the articles with a feeling of her eyes were burning from staring too long at the words.

"I've also been searching for strange deaths in the area," Dean said, "You know, eyeball bleeding, that sort of thing. There's nothing. Whatever's happening here, maybe it ain't Mary."

Sam's phone began to ring, to which he answered. "Hello?" He was silent for a moment, listening to whoever was on the other end, but then was a look of concern across his face.

* * *

Waiting on the ledge outside the newly deceased Jill was the three Winchesters siblings. The curtain from inside was pushed to the side, as Charlie, the girl Sam had given his phone number to at the funeral, appeared. She had called Sam, informing him of the news that Jill, Donna's other friend, had passed away, her eyes missing like Steven Shoemaker's had, after saying 'Bloody Mary' into the bathroom mirror.

Charlie lifted up the window, and Sam crawled in first. Andie went in after him, and Dean passed her a duffel bag as he climbed over the windowsill.

"What did you tell Jill's mom?" Sam asked Charlie.

"Just that I need some time alone with Jill's pictures and things," she explained, "I hate lying to her."

Dean and Andie took to shutting the curtains, as Sam took out the hand-held digital camera from the duffel.

"Trust us, this is for the greater good," Dean told her. "Hit the lights."

Andie bounced to the wall, where the light switch sat, and flicked it off.

"What are you guys looking for?" Charlie asked.

"We'll let you know as soon as we find it," Dean said.

Sam held out the camera towards his brother. "Hey, night vision." Dean hit a button, turning the camera screen to a glowing green. "Perfect."

Noticing the camera was aimed towards him, Dean smirked, "Do I look like Paris Hilton?"

Sam walked over to Jill's closet door, opening it to reveal a mirror. He began to film around the edges of the glass. "So, I don't get it. I mean, the first victim didn't summon Mary, and the second victim did. How's she choosing them?"

Dean was tracing the room, holding an EMF meter in his hand. "Beats me." He looked over at Charlie. "I want to know why Jill said it in the first place."

"It's just a joke," she said quietly.

"It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye," Andie sing-sang. Realizing just what she said, she grimaced. "Literally."

"Somebody's gonna say it again. It's just a matter of time," Dean said.

"Hey," Sam called from the bathroom. "There's a black light in the trunk, right?"

"Yeah," Dean answered.

"I think I found something."

Dean and Andie met him at the bathroom doorway, and Sam pointed the camera back at the light spot he found. It appeared as if blood was dripping from the back of the mirror, but was only visible using the night vision.

"I'm on it," Dean said, turning back towards the window, which he crawled back down, and towards the car.

"What is it?" Charlie asked, leaning forward as Sam took the mirror off from the wall, placing it on to the bed.

"You'll see," Andie said, matter of factually.

Dean came back through the window moments later, shutting the curtains again, and threw Sam the black light.

Sam shined the light at the mirror, while Andie peeled away at the brown paper covering the back of the mirror, revealing a hand print, and 'Gary Bryman' written beside it.

"Gary Bryman?" Charlie read.

Charlie claimed to not know of a Gary Bryman, so Dean did some research and learned that Gary Bryman had been an eight-year-old killed in a hit-and-run by a black Toyota Camry, which Charlie exclaimed, "Jill drove that car!" With that new information, the Winchesters and Charlie returned to the Shoemaker home where they found Linda Shoemaker written on the back of the upstairs mirror with another hand print. But even with this new lead, they were still stuck.

"Wait, wait, wait, you're doing a nationwide search?" Sam asked, turning away from the articles they had pinned on to one of the motel walls.

"Yep. The NCIC, the FBI database," Dean said, starting at the laptop screen. "At this point, any Mary who died in front of a mirror is good enough for me."

Sam walked over to the table, where his siblings were, and sat in the chair between them. "But she's haunting the town, she should have died in the town."

Andie crossed her arms, leaning back against her chair. "There's nothing, nobody named Mary in his town with any relation to a mirror as far as I can tell."

"So unless you got a better idea," Dean started.

"The way Mary's choosing her victims, it seems like there's a pattern," Sam said.

"I know, I was thinking the same thing."

"With Mr. Shoemaker and Jill's hit and run—"

"Both had secrets where people died."

"Right," Sam agreed, "I mean there's a lot of folklore about mirrors, that they reveal all your lies, all your secrets, that they're a true reflection of your soul, which is why it's bad luck to break them."

"Right, right. So maybe if you've got a secret, I mean like a really nasty one where someone died, then Mary sees it, and punishes you for it," Dean added.

"Whether you're the one who summoned her or not."

Andie frowned, taking in everything her brothers had just spurted out. She realized, thinking that she was the perfect target for Mary, all because of her dumbass dreams. She was withholding information Sam and Dean, making it a secret, and Jessica was dead. She was just what Bloody Mary was going after.

"Take a look at this." Dean pushed the laptop screen towards Sam. He motioned for Andie to take a look at it, but when he realized she wasn't moving, he asked her, "You okay?"

Andie snapped back to reality. "Yeah." She walked over to behind Sam. On the screen, was a picture of a dead woman in front a mirror, with a hand print and the 'Tre' written in blood on the glass. Sam juxtaposed the computer screen with the photos he had taken on his phone at the crime scenes. "Look like the same hand print."

"Her name was Mary Worthington, an unsolved murder in Fort Wayne, Indiana," Dean explained.

* * *

After speaking to the detective who had been on the case of Mary Worthington's death, Sam learned of a way to get in touch with Mary's family, so they could get that mirror. But unfortunately, Mary's brother informed him that just one week ago, he had sold it a store called Estate Antiques, which rested in Toledo.

"So wherever the mirror goes, that's where Mary goes?" Dean suggested.

"Her spirit's definitely tied up with it somehow," Sam said.

"Isn't there an old superstition that says mirrors can capture spirits?" Dean asked.

"Yeah there is," Sam answered, "Yeah, when someone would die in a house, people would cover up the mirrors so the ghost wouldn't get trapped."

"So Mary dies in front of a mirror, and it draws in her spirit."

"But she's moving from mirror to mirror," Andie pointed out. "Is there actually a mirror world?"

"I don't know, but if the mirror is the source. I say we find it and smash it," Dean said.

"Yeah, I don't know, maybe," Sam said, still unsure. His phone began to rang, which he answered. "Hello?" There was a pause, then, "Charlie?"

* * *

Charlie had called nervous and frantic, claiming that Bloody Mary was after her, so the Winchesters had picked her up from the school's front courtyard. They had brought her back to the motel room they were staying, and shut all the curtains, flipped the mirrors over, and did anything they good to block any reflective surface.

Sam sat next to Charlie on the bed, who had her head in between her knees. "Hey, hey, it's okay. Hey, you can open your eyes, Charlie. It's okay, alright?"

Charlie looked up slowly.

"Now listen, you're stay right here on this bed, and you're not gonna look at glass, or anything else that has a reflection, okay? And as long as you do that, she cannot get you," Sam continued, whispering gently.

"But I can't keep that up forever." Charlie paused, "I'm gonna die, aren't I?"

"Well—"

Sam cut off his twin, not knowing where she was going with that, and he didn't want to know. He glared at her. "_No."_ Sam then turned back to Charlie. 'No. Not anytime soon."

Dean sat down on the bed as well. "Alright, Charlie. We need to know what happened."

"We were in the bathroom. Donna said it," she explained.

"That's not what we're talking about." Charlie glanced over at Dean. "Something happened, didn't it? In your life, a secret, where someone got hurt. Can you tell us about it?"

"I had this boyfriend. I loved him. But he kind of scared me too, you know?" she told, "And one night, at his house, we got in this fight. Then I broke up with him, and he got upset, and he said he needed me and he loved me, and he said "Charlie, if you walk out that door right now, I'm gonna kill myself." And you know what I said? I said "Go ahead." And I left. How could I say that? How could I leave him like that? I just...I didn't believe him, you know? I should have." Charlie put her back in between her knees, as she began to cry.

* * *

"You know, her boyfriend killing himself, that's not really Charlie's fault," Dean mentioned.

They were back in the car, heading towards the antique store where Mary's mirror was. They needed to destroy that thing before it was sold again to some other town.

"You know as well as I do, spirits don't exactly see shades of gray, Dean," Sam said, "Charlie had a secret, someone died, that's good enough for Mary."

"I guess."

"You know, I've been thinking," Sam started, "It might not be enough to just smash that mirror."

Dean looked over at Sam in the passenger seat. "Why, what do you mean?"

"Well, Mary's hard to pin down, right? I mean she moves around from mirror to mirror so who's to say that she's not just gonna keep hiding in them forever?" Sam said, "So maybe we should try to pin her down, you know, summon her to her mirror and then smash it."

"Well, how do you know that's going to work?" Dean asked.

"I don't, not for sure," Sam honestly told him.

"Well, who's gonna summon her?" Dean questioned.

Both of the twins' voices spoke up, "I will."

Dean glanced back and forth between his brother and sister, confused, then he said, "You know what", pulling the car over to the side of the road. He switched off the car, and turned himself around so he was facing Sam. "You, this is about Jessica, isn't it? You think that's your dirty little secret that you killed her somehow? Sam, this has got to stop, man. I mean, the nightmares and calling her name out in the middle of the night, it's gonna kill you. Now listen to me, it wasn't your fault. If you wanna blame something, then blame the thing that killed her. Or hell, why don't you take a swing at me? I mean we're the ones that dragged you away, I'm the one that wanted you to come along in the first place."

"I don't blame you," Sam told his brother calmly.

_Blame me, _Andie begged in her head.

"Well, you shouldn't blame yourself, because there's nothing you could've done."

"I could've warned her."

"About what? You didn't know what was gonna happen! And besides, all of this isn't a secret, I mean, I know all about it. It's not gonna work with Mary anyway."

"I—" Andie tried.

"No, you don't," Sam said coldly.

"I don't what?" Dean asked.

"You don't know all about it," Sam explained, "I haven't told you everything."

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, it wouldn't really be a secret if I told you, would you?"

Dean stared at Sam, taken back. "No, I suppose not." He then peered at Andie in the backseat, "What the hell is wrong with you?"

Andie kept her eyes on some ugly, brown spot on the Impala's floor, unwilling to look Dean or Sam in the eyes. "I may have known something."

"That's descriptive," Dean sarcastically commented. "Known what?"

She shrugged.

He sighed, "Well, I don't like it. It's not gonna happen, forget it, both of you."

"Dean, that girl back there is going to die unless we do something about it. And you know what? Who knows how many more people are gonna die after that?" Sam said, "Now, we're doing this. You've got to let me do this."

"You know, I could—"

Sam stopped Andie. "No, no, I'll handle it."

They drove in silence for most of the way towards Estate Antiques. Dean was clearly not happy, muttering some curses under his breath here and there. Andie felt even more guilt-ridden, knowing Sam was taken the fall. She didn't know exactly was his secret was, but she didn't feel as it could have been any worse than hers. Sam had gone real quiet, staring out the window, and didn't say another world until the were at the store. He accepted the crowbar Dean handed him out of the trunk without a world, and bent down to pick the front door's lock without a single sound. The next thing Andie heard him say was "I don't think so", as a response to Dean's, "Maybe they've already sold it."

Dean and Andie met their brother at the mirror he was standing in front of. Dean pulled out the picture of Mary from his pocket, and held it beside the mirror. It was _the _mirror. "That's it." He sighed. "You sure about this?"

Sam handed Dean the flashlight that he had held in his hands. He took a step forward towards mirror, Dean and Andie following him. Sam took a breath, then started, "Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary." He paused, glanced over at his siblings, then held the crowbar high behind his head. "Bloody Mary."

Dean turned, seeing a light shining through the store's back window. "I'll go check that out. You two, stay here, be careful." He began to walk away, adding, "Smash anything that moves." He then disappeared from the view of the mirror.

Sam and Andie stood in front of the mirror, watching their own reflections. Andie readied her own crowbar, but she saw nothing, and Sam wasn't making a strike, so she assumed he didn't either. She glanced away, and towards the direction where Dean had gone. She returned her eyes towards the mirror, when she caught the sight of the spirit in another mirror beside the one. "Oh shit!" she cursed, swinging the crowbar and smashing the mirror. Sam turned his head towards his sister, then back around to see Mary had appeared in another mirror, but not _her _mirror. He took his crowbar and cracked that one too.

"You see her too?" he asked.

Andie nodded grimly, facing back towards the mirror. Sam moved so he was as well. "Come on. Come into this one," he urged.

The twins watched their own reflections in the mirror, and noticed how suddenly there was a small smirk on the reflections' faces, when there was none on theirs. They glanced at each other, puzzled, then back towards the mirror. The reflections continued to move in ways neither of them were moving. They stopped, still with a small smirk, as blood dripped out each one of their eyes. Sam and Andie both gasped out, struggling to get a full breath of air, and wincing at the sudden pain. They felt something warm run down from the corner of the eye, and both assumed to be blood, like their mirror selves. Andie's crowbar fell with a clang, while she gripped on to her chest where her heart sat beneath the skin. She felt it speeding up, as she continued to have a hard time breathing, almost to the point of hyperventilating. Sam's crowbar fell shortly after hers, and he too, gripped on to his chest. Blood had started to fall from their other eye, as the Sam and Andie in the mirror spoke in unison, "It's your fault. You killed her. You killed Jessica."

"You never told her the truth, who you really were," the reflection of Sam said, as Sam fell on to his knees. "But it's more than that, isn't it?"

Andie fell on to the floor shortly after Sam, as both the mirror Sam and Andie began talking simultaneously again. "Those nightmares you've been having of Jessica dying, screaming, burning. You had them for days before she died. Didn't you?"

"You didn't warn her," mirror Sam reminded the real Sam.

"You didn't warn your brother," the mirror Andie started, "If you had just told him, then he would have known something was wrong, and he could have protected Jessica."

"You were so desperate to ignore them, to believe they were just dreams. How could you ignore them like that?" the Sam and Andie behind the glass said together.

"How could you leave her alone to die?!" mirror Sam exclaimed.

Andie felt as if the reflections were closing on to her, as they both screamed, "You dreamt it would happen!" Then she heard the sound of glass shattering everywhere, raining down on her. But the pain from the glass felt like nothing compared to the damage the spirit had done to her. She was so overwhelmed with the pain, that she was numb to the feeling of glass piercing her skin. She nor Sam knew exactly just what had happened, since neither could see anything but blurs behind the blood dripping from their eyes, but they had their assumptions. They turned out to be correct though, when they heard their older brother cry out their names, "Andie, Sammy!"

"It's Sam," the middle Winchester corrected, weakly.

"God, are you okay?" Dean asked.

"Uh, yeah," Sam responded.

Andie nodded, unsure on how well she could talk, but shaking her head turned out to be the wrong option, as she felt a sudden pang in her head and a ringing in her ears at the motion.

"Come on, come on." Dean pulled Andie up, then Sam. Andie swayed uneasily on her feet, until Dean grabbed both her and Sam's arms, and threw them around his neck. "Geez guys, help me out a bit."

Sam and Andie both instinctively leaned a little less on Dean, as they started on their way out. They spun around though when they heard the sound of glass crackling. The spirit of Mary Worthington was crawling on the ground towards the three, her dark hair dangling in front of her face. She slowly stood, and headed for them, zombie-like, stopping once the siblings were withering on the floor, overcome with pain, and their eyes bleeding.

Dean reached over and grabbed a mirror beside him, and aimed in towards the direction of Mary. She lifted her head, and her hair fell away, revealing her face. She stared at her own reflection, and the voice from the mirror called out, "You killed them! All those people! You killed them!"

Everything had just been happening to the Winchesters began to happen to Mary, blood rushing out her eyes, choking, and it continued while Mary melted, disappearing as a puddle on the floor.

Dean chucked the mirror in front of him, shattering it. The three attempted to get themselves into a sitting position to see for themselves truly that Mary was gone.

"Hey?" Dean said.

"Yeah?" Sam replied.

"This has got to be like, what? Six-hundred years of bad luck?"

* * *

"So this is really over?" Charlie asked, once the car had stopped in front of her house.

Dean looked back at her. "Yeah, it's over."

She smiled. "Thank you."

Dean reached back to shake her hand, and then Charlie stepped out of the car. She started for her house.

"Charlie?" Sam called out the Impala's opened window.

She stopped and spun around.

"Your boyfriend's death, you should really try to forgive yourself," Sam told her, "No matter what you did, you probably couldn't have stopped it. Sometimes bad things just happen."

Charlie smiled slightly. She turned away, and moved towards the front door.

Dean hit Sam in the arm. "That's good advice," he said, then started the car up, driving away towards some destination they were not sure of yet. A few minutes later down the road, he said, "Hey Sam, hey Andie?"

"Yeah?" Sam asked.

"Hmm?" Andie replied.

"Now, that this is all over, I want you both to tell me what you were hiding," he told them.

"Look, you're my brother," he started, then added as an after thought, "and sister". He said every world while staring right at Andie. "And I'd die for you, but there are some things I need to keep to myself." He broke the gaze, and looked towards the window.

Andie glanced down, twiddling her thumbs nervously. She understood. Sam wanted to keep the secret hidden, and Andie didn't want it to be flaunted around everywhere either, so they kept it to themselves. Neither said a word to each other, even though both knew they should. This wasn't normal. They both had a dream which had came true. But Andie declared silently to herself that it was just that weird twin telepathic thing. Nothing strange, or unusual, but all she was doing was lying to herself. And she figured Sam must have been to if he wasn't going to mention their overly similar secrets.


	4. There Is No Place like Home

**Chapter Four / / **There Is No Place like Home

"Alright, I've been cruising some websites. I think I found a few candidates for our next gig," Dean said, taking a sip out of his mug of coffee. He sat at their current motel's table, reading through some news stories on the laptop. Andie was across from him, scanning through a local newspaper. Both were searching for their next hunt, while Sam sat on the bed, his head buried in a notebook.

"Okay, what?" Andie asked, placing the newspaper down on to the table.

"A fishing trawler found off the coast of Cali, it's crew vanished," he said, "And uh, we got some cattle mutilations in West Texas." He stopped, once he noticed Sam wasn't listening. Dean and Andie turned towards their brother, glancing once at each other, confused.

"Hey. Are we boring you with this hunting evil stuff?" Dean asked.

Sam looked up from the notebook for a second, before returning his gaze back towards whatever he was drawing. "No, I'm listening. Keep going."

"And, here, a Sacramento man shot himself in the head. Three times," Dean continued, but Sam still wasn't listening. He waved a hand as a try to get his brother's attention. "Any of these blowing up your skirt, pal?"

Andie shared one more puzzled look with Dean. Their last few weeks had consisted of a shapeshifter, who had taken the form of Dean, and had put him on to the FBI's most wanted list, only for Dean to later be declared dead when government officials found the shapeshifter, still as Dean, dead. Then the Winchesters had taken a hunt for the Hookman, or a spirit similar to the urban legend, like the Bloody Mary they had faced. After that, they helped a family survive through an old, Native American curse placed on to the land the Realtor father was building on, which caused bugs to claim the lives of people, from a construction worker to a real estate agent. On top of that, some good 'ole family drama. Through out the weeks since leaving Toledo, Ohio, since the night in Estate Antiques, Sam was giving Andie the cold-shoulder. At first, Andie had accepted it, believed that she deserved it, but it had been weeks now, and Sam showed no sign on lightening up on his passive aggressive ways. Dean didn't know what was going with the twins. He had shot them looks, trying to hint one to start talking, but neither did nor wanted to. But when Sam started was paying no attention to him, Dean took it as Sam was now acting cold towards him, so he was confused to what he had done.

Andie was trying real hard to get on Sam's good side again, continuing to act like everything was fine, pushing away an anger she may have had, and be pleasant enough. She crossed over to Sam, and curiously peered over his shoulder to a sketch of a tree. "Wow. When did you get so artistic?"

"Wait, I've seen this." Sam jumped up, completely ignoring Andie, and would have bumped into her, if she hadn't stepped back. He grabbed a duffel bag off from the floor—_Andie's—_and started to rummage through it, yanking out clothing, her toothbrush, a bag of M&amp;M's that she had been keeping to herself, hidden away from her brothers.

"Woah, what the hell are you doing? Get out!" Andie exclaimed, walking towards him. She swatted at his hands, as he continued to throw around her stuff. He took a step back, holding up his desired item in satisfaction, Dad's journal. He dropped it on to the bed, and flipped it open. He searched though the front side pocket, pulling out a family photo. The picture had been taken in front of their old home. All of the Winchesters were in it, even Mary. She held Sam in her arms, against her chest. John had baby Andie in one arm, as Dean clung on to the other. He held his drawing up to the photo. The sketched tree was similar to the one that Winchester family sat in front of.

"I know where we have to go next," he said.

"Where?" Dean asked.

"Back home, back to Kansas."

"Okay, random," Dean commented, "Where'd that come from?"

Sam went to Dean, and placed the photo in front of him. "Alright, um, this picture was taken in front of our old house, right? The house where Mom died?"

"Yeah."

"And it didn't burn down, right?" Sam questioned, "I mean, not completely. They rebuilt it, right?"

"I guess so, yeah."

"What are you getting at?" Andie asked, joining her brothers at the table.

"Okay, look, this is gonna sound crazy," Sam started, "but the people who live in our old house, I think they might be in danger."

"Why would you think that?" Dean wondered.

"Uh, it's just, um, look, just trust me on this, okay?" Sam spurted out, nervously. He got up from the table, and walked over to the spot where his duffel bag sat. He grabbed it, and started to pack his things up. Dean and Andie followed him over to the edge of the bed.

"You gotta give us more information than that," Andie told him.

Sam shot her a look, his eyes narrowed, and in a cold tone, "I thought _you_ might understand."

"What the hell—"

Dean cut her off, stopping while they were ahead of an argument. "You gotta give us a little more than that."

"I can't really explain it is all," Sam said, more calmly to Dean.

"Well, tough. I'm not going anywhere until you do."

Sam sighed. "I have these nightmares."

Dean nodded. "I've noticed."

"And sometimes, they come true," he explained.

"Come again?"

"Look, Dean, I dreamt about Jessica's death for days before it happened."

"Sam, people have weird dreams, man. I'm sure it's just a coincidence." Dean sat on the bed across from Sam.

"Yeah? So did—" Sam paused, seeing that his twin sister, who had been staring nervously at the ground, eyes had shot up instantaneously towards him, watching him, frozen in fear that he would reveal _it_. He sighed, then started again, "No, I dreamt about the blood dripping, her on the ceiling, the fire, everything, and I didn't do anything about it 'cause I didn't believe it. And now I'm dreaming about that tree, about our house, and about some woman inside screaming for help. I mean, that's where it all started, man, this has to mean something, right?"

"I don't know." Dean looked back down at the photo, which he held in his hand.

Sam sat down on the adjacent bed. "What do you mean you don't know, Dean? This woman might be in danger. I mean, this might even be the thing that killed Mom and Jessica!"

"Alright, just slow down, would ya?" Dean stood, and walked over to the other side of the bed. "I mean, first you tell me that you've got the Shining? And then you tell me that I've gotta go back home? Especially when..." he trailed off.

"When?" Andie echoed, urging him to continue.

"When I swore to myself that I would never go back there."

No one said anything for a moment, but then Sam stood, telling his older brother, "Look, Dean, we have to check this out. Just to make sure."

"I know we do."

* * *

The Winchesters stared at the house in front of them. Neither Sam nor Andie remembered it at all, so it didn't affect them. Well, not as much as Dean, who had slight slight memory of it. They watched Dean carefully, waiting for a reaction out of him. He stay stone-faced mostly, but there was a small hint of pain deep within his features.

"You gonna be alright, man?" Sam asked.

"Let me get back to you on that," Dean told him.

The three stepped out of the car, and made their way towards the front door. Standing only a foot away, Dean went to go knock, but pulled slightly away with hesitation, before hitting the door with his fist.

The door opened, revealing a young, blond woman. "Yes?"

"Sorry to bother you, ma'am, but we're the Federal—" Dean began to say, as Andie went for the fake FBI badge tucked into her jacket pocket.

"I'm Sam Winchester, and this is my brother, Dean,and my sister, Andie," Sam broke in. "We used to live here. You know, we were just driving by, and we were wondering if we could come see the old place."

"Winchester," the woman repeated, "Yeah, that's so funny. You know, I think I found some of your photos the other night."

"You did?" Dean asked.

She nodded and stepped aside. "Come on in." The siblings obeyed, and the women lead them to the kitchen, where a young girl sat at the table, working on homework, and a toddler in a playpen bounced around, chanting, "Juice! Juice! Juice!"

"That's Ritchie," the woman explained, "He's kind of a juice junkie." She took a sippy cup out of the refrigerator and handed it to her son. "But hey, at least he won't get scurvy." She went to the little girl, and introduced the Winchesters to her daughter, "Sari, this is Sam, Dean, and Andie. They used to live here."

"Hi," Sari greeted.

Dean waved, Andie offered a small smile, and Sam greeted her back, "Hey, Sari.".

"So, you just moved in?" Dean asked the mother.

"Yeah, from Wichita."

"You got family here, or?"

"No. I just, uh, needed a fresh start, that's all," she explained, "So, new town, new job. I mean, as soon as I find one. New house."

"So, how you liking' it so far?" Sam questioned.

"Well, uh, all due respect to your childhood home," she began, "I mean, I'm sure you had lots of happy memories here. But this place has its issues."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it's just getting old. Like the wiring, you know? We've got flickering lights almost hourly."

"Oh, that's too bad. What else?" Dean interrogated.

"Um, sink's backed up. There's rats in the basement." She paused. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to complain."

"No," Dean said. Neither of the Winchesters were the least bit offended. "Have you seen the rats or have you just heard scratching?"

"It's just the scratching, actually."

"Mom?" Sari asked.

The woman knelt down beside her daughter, so Sari could whisper, "Ask them if it was here when they lived here."

'What, Sari?" Sam asked.

"The thing in my closet."

"Oh, no, baby, there was nothing in their closets," the mother reassured her. She then turned to the Winchesters. "Right?"

"Right. No, no, of course not," Sam said.

"She had a nightmare the other night," Jenny explained.

"I wasn't dreaming. It came into my bedroom, and it was on fire."

"Oh, well, it was probably just a dream," Dean assured. He cleared his throat, then added, then said, "Um, excuse us, we should probably get going."

"Oh, alright. Let me show you out." The woman stood, and guided the three siblings back to the door.

"Bye. Thank you again," Sam told her.

"No problem. Anytime." They were probably going to take her up on that.

Once the front door was closed, and the woman had disappeared behind it, Sam exclaimed, "You hear that? A figure on fire."

"And that woman, Jenny, that was the woman in your dreams?" Dean asked.

"Yeah," Sam answered. "And you hear what she was talking about? Scratching, flickering lights, both signs of a malevolent spirit."

"Yeah, well, I'm just freaked out your weirdo visions are coming true."

"Well, forget about that for a minute. The thing in the house, do you think it's the thing that killed Mom and Jessica?"

"I don't know!"

"Well, I mean, has it come back or has it been here the whole time?" Sam questioned.

"Or maybe it's something else entirely. Sam, we don't know yet," Dean told him.

"Well, those people are in danger, Dean. We have to get 'em out of that house."

"And we will."

"No, I mean now," Sam urged.

"And how you gonna do that, huh? You got a story that she's gonna believe?" Dean interrogated.

"Then what are we supposed to do?" Sam asked.

"Relax," Andie snapped.

Sam shot her a look, similar to the one at the motel. But Andie didn't shy away from it this time, but retaliated the stare.

Dean caught both of the glares, and glanced back and forth between the twins. "What the hell is up with you two?"

Andie simply looked away, and Sam shrugged, "Nothing."

"You two have been acting weird since we've left Toledo," he stated, then jokingly asked, "Who stole whose boyfriend?"

"Dean, shut up," Andie growled, before climbing into the backseat of the Impala.

* * *

"I think you were right, Andie. We just gotta chill out, that's all. You know, if this was any other kind of job, what would we do?" Dean asked.

Sam stepped around the car, and over to Dean. "We'd try to figure out what we were dealing with. We'd dig into the history of the house."

"But we know the history," Andie pointed out.

"Yeah, but how much do we know?" Sam said, then asked Dean, "I mean, how much do you actually remember?"

"About that night, you mean?"

"Yeah."

"Not much. I remember the fire, the heat," Dean listed, then paused. "And then I carried you out the front door."

"You did?"

"Yeah, what, you never knew that?"

Sam shook his head. "No."

Dean glanced over at Andie. "Dad carried you out. I didn't know if he was gonna make it or not." He paused again. "And well, you know his story was well as I do. Mom was—was on the ceiling. And whatever put her there was long gone by the time Dad found her."

"And he never had a theory about what did it?" Sam questioned.

"If he did, he kept it to himself. God knows we asked him enough times." Dean sat beside Sam on the trunk of the car.

"Okay. So, if we've gonna figure out what's going on now, we have to figure out what happened back then. And see if it's the same thing."

"Yeah. We'll talk to Dad's friends, neighbors, people who were there at the time."

After a moment, Sam said, "Does this feel like just another job to you?"

Andie shook her head. "No."

"I'll be right back. I gotta go to the bathroom," Dean then declared, walking away and disappearing around a corner of the gas station.

Once he noticed Dean was out of sight, Sam turned to Andie. "So, speak up anytime when you feel like it."

"What?"

"Come on, don't tell me you didn't have the same dream."

"I didn't, Sam," she told him, "I actually didn't."

"Just Jess's death then, huh?" Sam asked, sounding almost as if he didn't believe her.

Andie shrugged. "Apparently." Other than the cars racing by on the highway, they stood in silence, until she asked, "What's your issue?"

"I don't—"

"Cut the crap," she demanded. "Alright? I'm getting sick of this passive aggressive stuff. You wanna be angry at me, then fine." She stepped back from the car, and spread out her arms. "Take a swing."

Sam rolled his eyes. "I'm not gonna hit you."

"Then what?!"

Dean returned to his siblings, looking neither of them in the eye, as he opened the door to the driver's seat. When he noticed his siblings weren't moving, he finally looked up at them, and both they realized something was wrong, that Dean was taking the return home harder then they thought, but neither said anything. "Ready?" he asked, as Andie dropped her arms, and the twins got themselves into the car.

After speaking with the mechanic who was the co-owner to the garage John also owned, the Winchesters leaned that John had visited a psychic in town, so that was their next step to learn more about the past of their old home.

They were parked beside a payphone. Dean and Andie were beside the Impala, while Sam searched through a phone book.

"Alright, so there are a few psychics and palm readers in town," he said, "There's someone named El Divino. There's, uh, there's the Mysterious Mister Fortinksy." He laughed at that one. "Uh, Missouri Moseley—"

"Missouri Moseley?" Andie echoed.

Sam looked up from the book. "Uh, yeah."

Andie opened the car door, and started to go through her bag. She pulled out Dad's journal, and opened it to the first page. "Right here, the first thing _ever, _Dad wrote, _I went to Missouri and I learned the truth._"

"Right, I always thought he meant the state," Dean said, recalling the line.

* * *

The Winchesters sat on some old, leather couch in the home of Missouri Moseley. Dean flipped through a suburban mom magazine, bored out of his mind. Sam sat nervously on the edge of the couch. Andie, sitting on the other side of Dean, leaned over, and whispered, "How do we know if she's for real?"

"We don't," Dean replied, slamming the magazine back on to the coffee table.

There was the sound of a door creaking open, and a woman's voice, as she appeared from a room, leading a man out the door reassuring him, "Alright, there. Don't you worry about a thing. Your wife is crazy about you." She closed the door behind them, then turned towards the three siblings. "Whew. Poor bastard. His woman is cold-banging the gardener."

"Why didn't you tell him?" Dean asked.

"People don't come here for the truth. They come for good news," she explained, then said, "Well? Sam, Dean, Andie, come on already. I ain't got all day." The siblings shared a nervous look with each other, before following her into the other room.

"Well, lemme look at ya," Missouri instructed. "Oh, you boys grew up handsome." She pointed a finger at Dean, laughing, "And you were one goofy-looking kid too." She smiled, and turned towards Andie, who stood about a foot behind from her brothers. She grabbed Andie's arm, and pulled her forward slightly, so she was in line with Sam and Dean. "And you, you're quite the beauty." In response, Andie smiled slightly down at the floor, awkwardly fidgeting with her jacket sleeve, never one to take compliments well.

Missouri turned her attention back to Sam, and took his hand in hers. "Oh, I'm so sorry about your girlfriend...You and your sister sure have some issues you to need to work out...And your father, he's missing?"

"How'd you know all that?" Sam asked.

"Well, you were just thinking it now," she told him simply.

"Well, where is he? Is he okay?" Dean questioned.

"I don't know," Missouri said.

"Don't know?" Dean echoed. "Well, you're supposed to be psychic, right?"

"Boy, you see me sawing some bony tramp in half? You think I'm a magician?" Missouri retorted, "I may be able to read thoughts and sense energies in a room, but I can't just pull facts out of thin air. Sit, please." She turned to sit in a chair across from a couch, which the Winchesters sat upon.

"Boy, you put your foot on my coffee table, I'm 'a whack you with a spoon!" Missouri snapped at Dean.

"I didn't do anything," he protested defensively.

"But you were thinking about it."

"Okay," Sam said, "So, our dad, when did you first meet him?"

"He came for a reading. A few days after the fire," she explained, "I just told him what was really out there in the dark. I guess you could say, I drew back the curtains for him."

"What about the fire? Do you know about what killed our mom?" Dean asked

"A little," Missouri replied, "Your daddy took me to your house. He was hoping I could sense the echoes, the fingerprints of this thing."

"And could you?" Sam wondered.

Missouri shook her head.

"What was it?" Sam asked.

"I don't know. Oh, but it was evil," she answered. "So, you think something is back in that house?"

"Definitely."

"I don't understand."

"What?"

"I haven't been back inside, but I've been keeping an eye on the place, and it's been quiet," she said, "No sudden deaths, no freak accidents. Why is it acting up now?"

"I don't know," Sam replied, "But Dad going missing and Jessica dying, and now this house all happening at once, it just feels like something's starting."

"That's a comforting thought," Dean commented.

The Winchesters, along with Missouri returned to the old home. Missouri knocked on the door, and when Jenny answered, holding Ritchie, Sam greeted her, "Hey, Jenny. This is our friend, Missouri."

"If it's not too much trouble, we were hoping to show her the old house," Dean said, then added, "You know, for old time's sake."

"You know, this isn't a good time. I'm kind of busy," Jenny objected.

"Listen, Jenny, it's important—" Dean was cut off, as Missouri smacked him on the back of his head. "Ow!"

"Give the poor girl a break, can't you see she's upset?"Missouri stepped forward. "Forgive this boy, he means well, he's just not the sharpest tool in the shed, but hear me out."

"About what?" Jenny asked.

"About this house," Missouri stated.

"What are you talking about?"

"I think you know what I'm talking about. You think there's something in this house, something that wants to hurt your family. Am I mistaken?"

"Who are you?" Jenny questioned.

"We're people who can help, who can stop this thing," Missouri told the mother, "But you're gonna have to trust us, just a little."

Jenny stared at them for a moment, before finally she agreed, "Alright."

The four strangers entered her home, and Jenny showed them into the kitchen again.

"Sari said there was something in her closet," Sam stated, "Do you mind if we check it out?"

"Uh, sure," Jenny said, still a little unsure. She lead them up the stairs and into Sari's room. She stood there for a moment, uncomfortably watching them as they paced the room, then she told them, "I'm gonna be down be downstairs. Let me know if you need anything."

"Alright, honey, thank you." Missouri began to trace the room. "If there's a dark energy around here, this should be the center of it."

"Why?" Sam asked.

"This used to be your nursery, Sam and Andie. This is where it all happened." All of their eyes drifted unconsciously towards the ceiling.

Missouri glanced back at Dean, noticing the item he held in his hand. "That an EMF?"

"Yeah."

She scoffed. "Amateur."

Dean shot a glare, then looked back down at the EMF. He nudged Sam and Andie to show them the frantically beeping EMF meter.

"I don't know if you three should be disappointed or relieved, but this ain't the same thing that took your mom," Missouri said.

"It's not?" Andie questioned.

Missouri nodded.

"How do you know?" Sam asked urgently.

"It isn't the same energy I felt the last time I was there," she explained, "It's something different."

"What is it?" Dean wondered.

Missouri opened the closet door. "Not it. _Them. _There's more than one spirit in this place."

"What are they doing here?"

Missouri stepped away from the closet, and towards the Winchesters. "They're here because of what happened to your family. You see, all those years ago, real evil come to you. It walked this house. That kind of evil leaves wounds. And sometimes, wounds get infected."

"I don't understand," Sam said.

"This place is a magnet for paranormal energy. It's attracted a poltergeist. A nasty one. And it won't rest Jenny and her babies are dead."

"Well, what's the other spirits?" Andie asked.

Missouri entered the closet again. "I can't quite make the second one out."

"Well, one thing's for damn sure. Nobody's dying in this house ever again," Dean declared, "So whatever is here, how do we stop it?"

The way to stop it turned out to stop the poltergeist was to concoct a substance made of what Missouri described to be of "Angelica root, Van Van oil, crossroad dirt, a few other odds and ends." She explained that they would need to only put the substance in the four corners of the house on each floor, but they would also need to work fast to get done before the spirit realized what they were doing and took matters into its own hands. Missouri also instructed they each took a floor, which Dean pointed out that there was four of them and three floors, so she declared that Sam and Andie would work together. Neither twin was exactly ecstatic about that idea.

At the house, Missouri talked Jenny in to getting out of the house for a couple hours, to go see a movie or something. She then had taken to the basement, while Dean took the main floor, and the twins worked on the upstairs. They had split at the stairs, and gone in opposite directions down the hall. Andie had entered Sari's bedroom. She walked over to one of the corners in the room, and crouched beside it, and hit the wall with a hammer, creating a small hole, which was still large enough to place one of the bags of the mixture that would evict the poltergeist. She had just gotten the bag in when she heard a loud crash come from the other side of the upstairs floor.

"Sam?" Andie started towards his way, when Sari's bedroom door slammed in her face. "Shit," she muttered under her breath. She shook the doorknob, pulling on it, but the door wouldn't budge. "Sam!" she cried, banging on the door.

"Andie?" Dean called from the hallway.

"The door!" she explained.

"Back up," he instructed.

"No, check on Sam. I'm fine." Andie heard his footsteps get quieter as he got farther. She turned around just as the hammer she had dropped on the floor flew at her head. She ducked down, placing her hands instinctively over her face. After a moment, she opened her eyes, and noticed that the hammer had just missed hitting her. Eyes wide, Andie backed away, waiting for another attack. But instead, the door opened slightly. Cautiously and slowly, she opened the door.

Dean and Sam exited from another room, and were coming towards her. Dean had one arm beneath Sam's shoulders, leading him to the stairs. "You good?"

"Are _you?_" Andie asked, directed at both Dean and Sam.

"Yeah." Dean tightened his grip around Sam, and the three returned downstairs and into the kitchen. Everything was turned over, on the floor. Most of the kitchen drawers were empty, since the objects they had held now covered the tiles. The table was on it's side, and the whole knife collection was stuck into it.

"Geez Dean, what the hell happened?" Andie commented, looking around.

"The damn thing tried to kill me, that's what."

"I can relate." Still looking around, she asked, "Where's Missouri?"

Missouri appeared shortly after. "You get it done?"

The three siblings nodded.

She paced around the house, going from room to room, before reentering to kitchen, declaring, "Good. It's over."

Dean sighed out in relief, but Sam only tightened.

"You sure this is over?"

"I'm sure," the psychic said, "Why? Why do you ask?"

"Never mind." Sam sighed. "It's nothing, I guess."

"Hello? We're home."

The lights from the other flickered on, as Jenny entered, holding Ritchie in one arm, and holding Sari's hand with her other. She gasped at the sight. "What happened?"

"Hi, sorry, um, we'll play for all of this," Sam apologized.

Dean and Andie shot their brother a confused look. _With what money? _

"Don't you worry. Dean's gonna clean up this mess," Missouri told Jenny.

Dean's confusion only grew more, but Andie's instead smirked in amusement. When Dean didn't move, Missouri barked at him, "Well, what are you waiting for, boy? Get the mop."

Dean muttered something inaudible under his breath.

"And don't cuss at me!"

He shuffled away, still grumbling incoherently.

Even though Missouri had announced the house to be spirit-free, the Winchesters still found themselves staring at their old home. Both Andie and Dean were not happy about the situation, but Sam was persistent to believe something was still wrong.

"Alright, so tell me again, what are we still doing here?" Dean asked.

"I don't know. I just...I still have a bad feeling," Sam stuttered out.

"Missouri said the house was fine, so it should be fine." Andie crossed her arms against her chest and leaned back against her seat.

"Yeah, well, probably. But I just want to make sure," he told them.

"Whatever. Wake me up if anything changes," she mumbled, rolling over on to her side.

Sam looked back at her. "Wait, you're going to sleep right now?" His eyes darted towards Dean, who slid down in his seat slightly, and closed his eyes. "You too?!"

"Well..." Dean said, guilty. Off Sam's look, he continued, "Missouri did her Zelda Rubenstein thing, the house should be clean, it should be over."

"Guys—"

"No offense, Sam, but I kinda trust Missouri's psychic abilities over yours," Andie proclaimed, cutting him off.

"Are you serious—" Sam's voice began to raise, getting louder in anger.

"Hey," Dean butted in, warningly.

"I thought that maybe you might be able to understand!" Sam still yelled.

"What?"

"Nothing. G'night." Andie flipped herself back over, so she was facing the back of the car.

"No," Dean demanded, "One of you start talking. What the hell is going on?"

Sam shook his head slightly. "It's nothing."

"Obviously it's not. You've been at each others' throats for weeks."

"I said, goodnight," Andie said once more.

In a daze of short-lived sleep that her brothers had finally allowed, when she felt herself still in the transition of sleep, that was when Andie saw it. She saw that thing Sam had been going on for the past couple days, his dream of Jenny crying for help. The blonde woman banged at her bedroom window, barely visible as little light shined on the window.

"Oh my God!" Andie jolted awake, her body flinging forward, and her head smacking the car's ceiling in the process. "Ow!"

Dean glanced back. "What?"

"I dreamt—"

Sam eyes strayed from his sister, and back towards the house, where the vision become true. Jenny screaming, banging on her bedroom window. "Dean, Andie, look. Guys!"

Andie swallowed all fear, as the three rushed out of the car and bolted towards the house.

"You grab the kids, I'll get Jenny," Dean instructed.

At the top of the stairs, they split. Sam went towards the direction of Ritchie's room, so Andie went to Sari's. She cursed, taking in the sight of a figure completely made of fire standing in the center of the opened closet.

"Help!" Sari cried.

Andie held out a hand, and at first, moved cautiously towards Sari, taking one step at a time, but once Sari had her hand, Andie scooped up Sari, and rushed out the door of the bedroom. Sam appeared outside the doorway, holding Ritchie. "Got her?"

Andie placed Sari on the ground, and took the back end as Sam lead them to the front door and out of the possessed home. She then felt something grab her leg, and she fell on to the floor with a grunt. Sam and Sari watched as some invisible force pulled her away into another room.

Sam handed the girl her brother, and ordered her, "Alright, Sari, take your brother outside as fast as you can, and don't look back." It was only seconds before he was brought down as well, dragged away in the same direction Andie had gone.

The twins were flung against a set of cabinets, which rattled against their backs in response. They stood weakly, as the poltergeist flew them against the walls, causing them to become paralyzed under the spirit's grip. The fire figure turned a corner, and was now heading straight for them.

They heard their older brother call from the other room. "Sam? Andie?" He entered the room where they were being held captive, and raised his gun towards the flames.

"No, don't! Don't!" Sam cried.

"Don't?" Andie echoed, confounded. "Got a death wish?!"

"What, why?!" Dean asked.

"Because I know who it is. I can see her now," Sam

The flames surrounding the figure vanished, revealing someone who Sam and Andie only knew the appearance of from pictures, _their mother._

Dean wavered slightly at the sight, then lowered the gun. "Mom?"

Mary smiled, taking a step towards him. "Dean." She stood there for a moment, then walked around him, and to the twins still on the wall. "Sam, Andie." They smiled in response, but their mother's faded. "I'm sorry."

Sam and Andie glanced at each other to the best of their ability, puzzled.

"For what?" Sam asked.

But Mary said nothing. She looked at her children sadly, before turning away, and looking up the ceiling, demanding, "You get out of my house. And let go of my children." She burst into flames again, but this time, she disappeared all together. Sam and Andie fell to the floor, released from the grip that the spirit had held them in.

"Now, it's over," Sam declared.

* * *

Dean held a stack of pictures in his hand. Andie peered over his shoulder, as he went through the stack. There was one of their parents, smiling, and standing in front of a lake, a beautiful scenery. The second one was of a young Dean, holding a twin in each arm, and another photo was the one of them in front of the tree. The one that had brought them there in the first place.

"Thanks for these," Dean told Jenny.

"Don't thank me, they're yours," she replied.

They stood in front of the house still, next to the Impala with Jenny beside them. She had been the one to give them the pictures. Dean dropped the photos back into the small box Jenny had given the photos to him in, then placed it into the trunk of the car. "Wanna tell Sam that we're about to head out?" Dean asked Andie. She nodded, then met her brother on the front steps, along with Missouri, who sat beside him.

"I know I should have all the answers, but I don't know," Missouri said, and after a pause, her eyes drifted to meet Andie's, "about you or your sister."

Sam glanced up towards his sister's way, and Andie felt her heart stop.

"I know that similar things have been happening to you, dear," the psychic continued. "You too sensed that something was still in that house, but you didn't want to believe it. You want to shove it all away. Am I correct?"

"I—" Andie began, when Dean asked, "You ready?"

Sam nodded, and he went to the car. Andie stood still for a moment longer, biting her tongue, stuck between staying quiet or going out on a ramble about everything. Missouri watched her turn away, and return back to the car.

"Don't you kids be strangers!" Missouri called to them.

"We won't," Dean told her.

"See you around."

Jenny waved, as the three Winchesters climbed into the car. Dean set it into drive, and drove away from their past home, the origin for everything. This hunt had brought up some old feelings that they hadn't thought about since they were children. Each sibling was emotionally exhausted in their own way, with visiting _the _house, seeing their mother's spirit, with the twin's small unending feud, and still no luck on seeing their father. Only if they had known that their father had been in town, visiting an old friend, Missouri Moseley.


	5. Asylum

**Chapter Five / / **Asylum

In some small, vacant motel in tiny, no-name town, resided the Winchesters for the time being. Andie laid on her stomach on one of the beds, her head in her hands, as her eyes drifted around the room. Dean was across the room, sitting at the kitchenette table. He flipped through Dad's journal, searching for any sign to that said what direction their father might have been heading in. Sam sat on the bed across from Andie with his cell phone pressed to his ear, speaking to one of their old, hunting buddies, Caleb. After Sam hung up, Dean asked, not looking up from the journal pages, "Caleb hasn't heard from him?"

"Nope," Sam replied, "And neither has Jefferson or Pastor Jim."

"Have they not _heard from them_?" Andie asked with air-quotations around 'heard from him', "Or have they _really _not heard from him?"

Dean furrowed his eyebrows. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Andie shrugged. "I don't know. Are we even sure he's alive?"

"Of course he is!"

"What about the journal? Any leads in there?" Sam asked.

"Other that the coordinates to Blackwater Ridge, there's nothing," Andie told him. "Well, nothing I can make out. Dean's checked too." She gestured towards her eldest brother with the book in his lap.

"I love the guy, but I swear, he writes like friggin' Yoda," Dean commented.

"You know, maybe we should call the Feds," Sam suggested, "File a missing person's."

"We've talked about this. Dad'd be pissed if we put the Feds on his tail."

"I don't care anymore."

"Well, some of us do," Andie interjected.

The ringing of a phone sounded the small room. Dean stood, and went over to his duffel bag beside Andie.

"After all that happened back in Kansas, I mean, he should've been there, Dean," Sam continued, "You said so yourself. You tried to call him, and _nothing._"

"I know!" Dean yelled out, his frustration level rising at Sam's nagging, the constant reminder that their father was God knows where, and the ringing cell phone, which Dean struggled to find. "Where the hell is my cellphone?"

"You know, maybe Andie is right, he could be dead for all we know."

"Don't say that!" Dean criticized. "He's not dead! He's—he's..."

"He's what? He's hiding? He's _busy?_"

Dean pulled out his cell phone and flipped it open. "Huh, I don't believe it."

"What?"

He sat himself down beside Andie. "It's, uh, it's a text message. It's coordinates."

"Dad?" Andie asked, glancing over her brother's shoulder at the tiny phone screen. The text message, from an unknown number read, _42, -89._

"Who else?" Dean questioned. He stood, and grabbed Sam's laptop out of Sam's duffel from the floor between the beds. He placed it down to where he had been sitting before, and began to search for the location of the given coordinates.

"You think Dad was texting us?" Sam asked, now standing in the middle of the room.

"He's given us coordinates before."

"The man can barely work a _toaster_, Dean."

"Sam, it's good news! It means he's okay, or alive at least."

"Well, was there a number on the caller ID?"

"Nah, it said unknown."

"Well, where do the coordinates point?"

"That's the interesting part," Dean said, "Rockford, Illinois."

"How is that interesting?" Andie turned herself around, swinging her legs around her, so she was sitting on the edge of the bed.

"I checked the local Rockford paper. Take a look at this," Dean pushed the laptop towards the direction of the twins. They neared it, leaning over, as Dean clicked on a picture of a smiling, young police officer in an article.

"This cop, Walter Kelly, comes home after his shift, shoots his wife, then puts the gun in his mouth, blows his brains out. And earlier that night, Kelly and his partner responded to a call at the Roosevelt Asylum."

Sam sat down in the chair next to Dean. "Okay, I'm not following. What has this have to do with us?"

"The asylum," Andie stated.

Dean nodded. "Right."

"We're so stupid!" Andie snatched Dad's journal from off of the table where Dean had dropped it. She flipped through it, searching for a page that she had _known _she had seen before.

"You guys want to let me in on this or?" Sam asked, glancing back and forth between his siblings, who had both seemed to forgotten he was there.

Andie, after finding the desired page, held out the journal towards her brother. "Dad doggy-eared the page in his journal on the Roosevelt Asylum."

Sam glanced it over, before Dean took it, pointing to the stained news article glued onto a page. "Here. Seven unconfirmed sightings, two deaths, 'til last week at least. I think this is where he wants us to go."

Sam moved away from the table, turning his back to his siblings. "This is a job. Dad wants us to work a job."

"Well, maybe we'll meet up with him? Maybe he's there?" Dean offered.

"Maybe he's not?" Sam retaliated. "I mean, he could be sending us there, by ourselves, to hunt this thing."

"Who cares? If he wants us there, it's good enough for me!" Dean closed the book and slammed the laptop shut. He crossed past Sam, and over to his duffel bag as Sam continued.

"This doesn't strike you as weird? The texting? The coordinates?"

"Sam! Dad's telling us to go somewhere, we're going."

* * *

"So, what's the plan?" Andie asked. She sat in the backseat of the Impala, both Sam and Dean were sitting in the front seat. Dean had parked beside a local bar in the town of the Roosevelt asylum. Andie realized that she didn't know much of the plan. Sam and Dean must have discussed it when she had fallen asleep on the drive in.

"Well, if our source is correct, then the postal cop's partner is a regular here at around this time. I'm gonna go in as an annoying reporter, asking about his partner, and Sam is gonna come to the guy's rescue," Dean explained.

"You think that will work?" Andie asked, skeptical.

Dean patted his brother's shoulder. "Well, Sammy here, has the puppy eyes and can usually get whoever he wants to talk. And people tend to open up more to their saviors."

"Okay, and what am I doing?"

Dean shared a nervous look with Sam, before answering, "Uh, nothing."

"What, why?!"

"We just didn't think of a plan that consisted of three people." Dean shrugged. "Sorry." He turned to the middle Winchester, opening his car door at the same time. "C'mon Sammy."

"So, I'm just gonna stay in the car?" Andie questioned.

"Well, you can can come in if you want. It should only be a minute," Dean told her.

"Why am I being treated like I'm twelve?" Andie crossed her arms against her chest. "I mean, I know why Sam is being a little bitch towards me, but why are you? What the hell did I do?"

"Nothing," he said, "but are you two ever gonna forgive each other for whatever?"

Neither Sam nor Andie said a word.

"Well, you're both acting like children, that's why you can't come in," Dean decided in that moment.

Andie gaped, shooting a finger towards Sam's direction in the passenger seat. "So is he!"

"I need Sam. We need to find out more about the asylum, and Sam can get him to talk. No offense, but you don't have the best people skills."

"Thanks."

Dean shrugged, then him and Sam left. Andie watched them go, until they had disappeared behind the restaurant's door. She sat there for a moment, until she decided that she wasn't just going to wait in the _car _when she could make herself useful. She pushed open the Impala's backseat door, and followed her brother's inside.

Dean was sitting at a table, across from the man, who must have been the officer. Sam was lurking in the back, watching. He looked briefly away, and caught Andie standing in the doorway, and shot her an unimpressed look. She only smiled back in response. She glanced around, searching for anyone who may know anything. She picked a teen, since they have a tendency of being well-informed on local legends. She didn't know why, but they did, so she plopped herself down in a booth across from one.

The teenager had greasy hair, a face covered in pimples, and was sipping on a soda. He stared at Andie, visibly confused, and stuttered his way though, "I'm waiting on my girlfriend."

"This will only take a minute," she replied. "What can you tell me about the Roosevelt Asylum?"

"Why? Are you a cop?" he asked, his eyes widening in fear.

Andie pulled out her fake FBI badge, which she had tucked into her jacket pocket. "Talk."

"I'm sorry! It wasn't my idea!"

"Why wasn't your idea?"

"To go into the Roosevelt, it was my friend's, and he thought it would be fun—"

Andie cut him off. "What? No, no. That's not what I meant at all."

The teen got that same, dumb confused stare on his face. "Then what do you want?"

"I won't report you to the local authorities if you can answer a couple questions for me," she told him.

The teenager nodded.

Andie opened her mouth to ask the first thing, when she felt a yank on her arm. She glanced over, and saw Sam, standing there with a grip on her arm. She let him pull her away from the table.

"What are you doing?" Sam whispered harshly.

"Showing you and Dean that I am a valuable member on this team."

"What?"

"Just doing the same thing you guys are," she explained innocently. "I am getting information on the Roosevelt Asylum. And I was getting somewhere until you rudely interrupted."

"Well, knock it off. Go back in the car," he ordered, "There was nothing about you not being able to do it. It's just you weren't _needed."_

"Don't you have to go be that guy's hero?" she reminded him, nodding towards the direction of Dean.

Sam shot her one more annoyed look, before walking away.

Andie returned back to the table, settling opposite of the teen. "Now, like I was saying—"

"What the hell was that about?" the teenager asked.

She let out a small, nervous laugh. "Partners, you know? They just—um, never mind."

"Woah! Your partner is about to get into a fight!"

She looked over her shoulder. Dean was walking away, disgruntled, as Sam took his seat, engaging the cop in another conversation.

"Yeah, whatever." Andie turned back towards the teen."So, what can you tell me about the asylum?"

The teenager sipped at his coke. "Nothing much. It got shut down like forever ago after all the patients rebelled against the head doctor dude and his staff."

"Doctor have a name?"

"Uh, Doctor Ellicott or something like that? His son is now a psychiatrist in town." He thought for a moment. "I think that's all I know."

"Thanks. How do you know all this?" she inquired.

"I have a friend that goes to the psychiatrist Dr. Ellicott, and he learned it from him."

Andie thanked the teenager once more, getting up from the table. She shot a look towards Sam, who appeared to be making progress as she left, joining Dean on the hood of the car. He rubbed at his arm, wincing.

"What happened to you?"

"Ask your brother," Dean grumbled.

She raised her eyebrows. "Now, he's _my _brother? Well, I don't want him either."

"Why is he so pissed at you anyway?"

"It's nothing," she muttered.

"You keep saying that."

"'Cause it is. Why do you keep asking?"

Dean rolled his eyes at his sister, just as Sam exited the bar. "Shoved me kinda hard in there, buddy boy."

"I had to sell it, didn't I? It's method acting." Sam walked past his siblings and to the other side of the Impala.

"Huh?"

"Never mind."

"What'd you find out from Gunderson?"

"So, Walter Kelly was a good cop. Head of his class, even-keeled, he had a bright future ahead of him," Sam explained.

"What about at home?" Dean questioned.

"He and his wife had a few fights, like everybody, but he was mostly smooth sailing. They were even talking about having kids."

"Alright, so either Kelly had some deep-seated crazy waiting to bust out, or something else did it to him."

"Right."

"What'd Gunderson tell you about the asylum?" Dean asked.

The corner of Sam's mouth twitched into a small smirk. "A lot."

"I learned a few things myself," Andie added.

* * *

Inside the asylum, it was dim-lighted, the only source of light coming from the sun through the barred windows. The floor, walls, furniture that had been left behind was covered in a thick layer of dust and cobwebs. Addition to the walls, they were also painted with graffiti.

"So apparently the cops chased the kids here," Sam told, "into the south wing." He pointed to a sign hanging above a door, stating the specific area of the asylum.

Andie, holding her father's journal in her hands, began to flip through it, landing back on the page with the article. "In 1972, three kids broke into the _south wing, _only one survived," she read. "Says one went insane and started lighting the place up."

"So whatever's going on, the south wing is the heart of it," Sam said."

"But if the kids are spelunking the asylum, why aren't there a ton more deaths?" Dean wondered.

Sam looked around, his eyes landing on the door below the south wing sign, a broken chain across it. "Looks like the doors are usually chained. Could've been chained up for years."

"Yeah, to keep people out," Dean offered, "Or to keep something in."

The three siblings exchanged an ominous glance with each other, then Sam slowly pushed the door open. They stood for another moment, before walking down the long hallway littered with trash, shards of glass, broken chairs and other destroyed furniture.

"Let me know if you see any dead people, Haley Joel," Dean commented to Sam.

"Dude, enough," Sam complained.

"I'm serious. You gotta be careful, alright?," Dean warned him, "Ghosts are attracted to that whole ESP thing you got going on."

"I told you, it's not ESP!" Sam said, "I just have strange vibes sometimes. Weird dreams."

"Yeah, whatever. Don't ask, don't tell."

"You getting anything?" Andie asked, referring to the EMF meter Dean held out in front of him.

"Nope. Of course, it doesn't mean no one's home."

"Spirits can't appear during certain hours of the day," Sam stated.

"Yeah, the freaks come out at night," Dean said. "Hey Sam, who do you think is a hotter psychic, Patricia Arquette, Jennifer Love Hewitt, or you?"

Sam smacked Dean in the shoulder, who only laughed.

The three entered a room, and split away from their huddle as they examined around.

"Man, electro-shock, lobotomies. They did some twisted stuff to these people," Dean observed. He smiled back towards the twins. "Kinda like my man Jack in Cuckoo's Nest." When neither gave him a reaction, he turned himself back around. "So, what do you think? Ghosts possessing people?"

"Maybe. Or maybe it's more like Amityville, or the Smurl hunting," Sam suggested.

"Spirits driving them insane. Kinda like my man Jack in the Shining." Dean grinned.

Sam huffed a single chuckle, not listening to much of Dean was saying for something else was on his mind. He hesitated. "When are we going to talk about it?"

"Talk about what?" Dean asked.

"About the fact Dad's not here."

"Oh, uh, let's see, never."

"I'm being serious, man. He sent us here."

"So am I, Sam. Look, he sent us here, he obviously wants us here. We'll pick up the search later."

"It doesn't matter what he wants—"

Dean cut his brother short. "See. That attitude, right there? That is why I always get the extra cookie."

"Dad could be in trouble," Sam started, "We should be looking for _him. _We deserve answers, Dean. I mean, this is our family we're talking about."

"I understand that, Sam, but he's given us an order," Dean said, raising his voice.

"So what, we gotta always follow Dad's order?"

"Of course we do." Dean and Sam stared at each other for a moment. Andie's eyes shifted back and forth between her brothers, nervously watching their banter. It was all the same. Dean was loyal to Dad, following his orders, while Sam questioned their father's authority a little bit more, and Andie was left stuck in the middle. Stuck between wanting to impress her father and telling him to 'fuck off'.

Dean started to walk away, but then he turned back around. "You wanna talk about Dad not being here, you start talking about your two's issue."

That was the last thing Andie wanted to talk about, so she looked around for a subject changer, and caught sight of a sign resting on a table. She held it in the air. "Stanford Ellicott. That must be the name of the Doctor." She paused. "Uh, we should research more about this south wing. Get more info on why the patients rebelled."

* * *

Outside of Dr. Ellicott's, the psychiatrist and Roosevelt Asylum's chief of staff's son, office stood Dean and Andie. The eldest Winchester leaned against the glass windows beside the door. His sister stood across from him, her arms crossed against her chest. They were bored out of their minds, both lacking in patience. Sam was inside, speaking with the doctor to get as much information out of him as they could about the asylum.

"What the hell is taking him so long?" Dean groaned.

Andie shrugged. "It takes time to talk about his feelings."

"Well, he's only supposed to be getting info on the crazy house, not..." he trailed off, then mumbled, "talking about his feelings."

_Finally, _Sam walked out, passing straight by his siblings.

"Dude! You were in there forever," Dean called, catching up with his brother. "What the hell were you talking about?"

"Just the hospital, you know," Sam said.

"And?"

"And the south wing," he finished. "It's where they housed the really hard cases. The psychotics, the criminally insane."

"Sounds cozy."

"Yeah. And one night in '64, they rioted. Attacked staff. Attacked each other."

"I coulda told you that. I _did_ tell you that," Andie said, as they neared the parked Impala across the street.

"So the patients took over the asylum?" Dean asked.

"Apparently," Sam said.

"Any deaths?"

"Some patients, some staff. I guess it was pretty gory. Some of the bodies were never even recovered, including our chief of staff, Ellicott."

Dean shot his brother a questioning look. "What do you mean never recovered?"

"Cops sourced every inch of the place but I guess the patients must've stuffed the bodies somewhere hidden."

"That's grim."

"Yeah," Sam agreed, "So, they transferred all the remaining patients and closed the hospital down."

"So, to sum it up, we've got a bunch of violent deaths and a bunch of unrecovered bodies."

"And a bunch of angry spirits."

"Good times. Let's check out the hospital tonight."

* * *

The Winchesters entered the Roosevelt Asylum, the door opening with a creak as it swung open. They readied their materials. Sam switched on the digital, hand-held video camera, while Dean took out the EMF meter once again, and Andie simply pushed the button on the flashlight. She scanned around the room with the light.

"Getting readings?" Sam asked Dean as they started down the hall.

"Yeah, big time," Dean replied, the red, glowing light on the EMF flashing.

"This place is orbing like crazy," Sam said, staring into the camera's screen.

"Probably multiple spirits out and about."

"And if these uncovered bodies and causing the haunting—"

"We gotta find them and burn them," the oldest Winchester finished. "Just be careful though. The only thing that makes me more nervous than a pissed off spirit, is the pissed off spirit of a psycho killer."

They took a couple steps, when they heard a noise from behind. They spun around. Nothing. They continued their search with Dean disappearing into one room, while Sam and Andie went into another. The twins walked around, examining the room. The two thought they heard another sound, so they whipped around, going tense. The room however was empty. They continued investigating the room. Sam circled the room, seeing what he could maybe catch on the camera's night vision that the visible eye could not while Andie shined the flashlight around, both stopping in a similar spot, revealing a woman, her hair white and one eye bloody and out of its socket. The twins grimaced at the sight, and stepped back as she headed straight for them.

"Dean? Dean!" Sam called. "Shotgun!"

Dean appeared, and started to rummage through a bag on the floor. "Get down!"

Sam and Andie threw themselves on to the ground, as the round of the rock salt hit the woman's spirit, and she disappeared. The twins looked around, gasping.

Sam stood, along with Andie. "That was weird."

"Yeah. You're telling me," Dean agreed. He began for the room's exit, with Andie beside him, and Sam trailing behind.

"No, Dean, I mean it was weird that she didn't attack us."

Andie frowned. "I don't know, Sam, it looked like she was coming right at us."

"Yeah, but she didn't hurt us," he pointed out, "She didn't even try! So, if she didn't want hurt us, then what did she want?"

"Why don't you go back in there and ask her?" Andie asked. "Bet you could contact her using your ESP."

Sam halted. "Are you really gonna act like this?"

Andie stopped walking as well. "Act like what?"

"Like this!"

"Be a little more specific, why don't you," she muttered sarcastically.

"You can't keep pretending that it never happened! I heard Mary!"

Andie started to walk away. "Well, maybe you heard wrong."

"Dean was right. You are acting like a child!" Sam called after her.

She spun around, heading back for Sam, and opened her mouth to retort.

"I said, shut up!" Dean yelled. Had he? Neither Sam nor Andie had any recollection of that, too absorbed in their own worlds, in their argument that they had no idea what their older brother had said.

There was a quiet bang, the sound of something hitting metal as they passed an old patient's room. The siblings approached a bed, flipped over to its side, and covered in a ragged sheet. As they closed in on it, they saw the top of a blonde-haired head. Sam carefully reached out and tipped the bed over, revealing just a girl crouched in the corner of the room, facing the wall. She spun around, terrified, and panting.

"It's alright, we're not going to hurt you. It's okay," Dean reassured her. "What's your name?"

"Katherine. Kat," she told them.

"Okay. I'm Dean, this is Sam, and this is Andie."

"What are you doing here?" Sam asked.

"Um, my boyfriend, Gavin—" Kat started.

"Is he here?" Dean inquired.

"Somewhere," she explained, "He thought it would be fun, try and see some ghosts. I thought it was all just you know, pretend. I've seen things. I heard Gavin scream and—"

"Alright, Kat, come on," Dean grabbed her arm, and lead her away from the corner, "Andie's gonna get you out of here, and then we're gonna find your boyfriend."

Kat pulled away from Dean's grip. "No! No. I'm not going to leave without Gavin. I'm coming with you."

"It's no joke around here, okay. It's dangerous."

"That's why I gotta find him."

Dean shared a look with his siblings, then said, "Alright, I guess we gonna split up then. Let's go." He lead the way out of the room, and back into the hall. He shot half a glance towards the twins. "Kat will go with me, and you two can work together."

"Or Sam and I can work by ourselves?" Andie proposed.

"Or you can get over your pity issues," Dean snapped. "Come on, Kat." He lead Kat away from his siblings.

The twins stood there for a moment, in silence, then Sam started for a different way. Andie continued to stand in the same spot. She waved the flashlight around the hall. She was about to head in the opposite direction that Sam had gone in, but then she saw it. There, right in front of her face, was a _giant, _brown, fuzzy eight-legged creature. Andie shrieked, stumbling back, then bolted towards the direction where her twin had gone. "Sam! Sammy!" Looking back at the _monster, _she was paying little attention and hit straight into Sam. He staggered a bit forward by her surprised impact. "Geez, Andie!"

"Sorry, there was a—it was huge, and I—God, I hate this place!" she cried, panting hard from the fear of seeing her true worst nightmare. Spirits, werewolves, demons, sure, those were easy. She'd been facing those all her life. And in a way, she'd also been facing spiders her whole life, living in sleazy motel rooms and abandoned houses, but there was just something about them that she could never get used to no matter how many she faced. Dean teased her endlessly about it, but ever since the case in Pennsylvania, where Dean revealed his phobia for planes, Andie had learned to use that against him whenever he gave her shit.

Sam continued walking, calling out Gavin's name. Andie joined his side, paying more attention, and also yelling out for Kat's boyfriend.

They passed by a room. Sam lead the way in, and found a boy, who they assumed to be Gavin. He laid on the floor, unconscious. The room had once been a bathroom, for Gavin was beside a tipped over bathtub.

Sam crouched down beside the boy to shake him awake, who jerked away and began to freak out. He assured the boy. "Hey, Gavin. It's okay. We're here to help."

"Who are you?" he asked.

"My name is Sam, and this is my sister, Andie. Uh, we found your girlfriend." Sam held out a hand, which Gavin took, and he helped Gavin stand.

"Kat? Is she alright?"

"She's worried about you. Are you okay?" Sam wondered.

Gavin winced. "I was running. I think I fell."

"You were running from what?"

"There was—there was this girl. Her face, it was all messed up."

"Okay, listen, did this girl—did she try and hurt you?

"What? No, she, uh..." Gavin trailed out.

"She what?" Andie encouraged.

"She kissed me."

There was a beat of silence, then Sam asked, unsure of what to make of that, "Uh, um, but she didn't hurt you, physically?"

"Dude! She kissed me. I'm scarred for life!"

"Well, trust me, it could have been worse," Sam told him, "Now do you remember anything else?"

Gavin thought for a moment. "She, uh, actually, she tried to whisper something in my ear."

"What?"

"I don't know. I ran like hell."

"Alright, well, let's head back. Our brother is with your girlfriend," Sam said, guiding the way throughout the asylum. Gavin was behind Sam, and Andie followed shortly after him.

"I told you the woman wasn't trying to hurt us," Sam said.

"Yeah, well, would you like a prize?" Andie asked. "When I see a spirit, I don't question its motives, I shoot at it."

"Wait, spirit?" Gavin. "Like a real-life ghost _spirit_?"

"Nice." Sam shot an annoyed look at his sister's direction.

Andie rolled her eyes. "Well, isn't that why you came in here? To see some ghosties? I doubt you were interested in checking out the decor."

"Shh!" Sam shushed.

The three stopped in their tracks. They could hear from where they stood a loud banging coming from an intersecting hallway.

"What's that?" Gavin asked in a hushed whisper.

Sam held out an arm, silently telling Gavin to stay back, while he peered around a corner. Dean stood outside a bar with a crowbar, struggling to get a metal door open. He and Andie rushed over, followed by Gavin.

"What's going on?" Sam asked his brother.

"She's inside with one of them," he explained.

"Help me!" Kat cried from the other side.

"Kat!" Gavin called.

"Get me outta here!"

"Kat, it's not going to hurt you. Listen to me. You've got to face it. You've got to calm down," Sam instructed.

Dean pulled away from the door with the crowbar. "She's gotta what?" He shot a confused look at Andie, looking for answers, but she only shrugged.

"I have to what?!" Kat asked.

"These spirits, they're not trying to hurt us, they're trying to communicate," Sam explained. "You gotta face it. You gotta listen to it."

"You face it!"

"No! It's the only way to get out of there."

"No!"

"Look at it, come on. You can do it."

Kat stopped thrashing and screaming, and Dean stopped trying to get the door open. The only sound that could be heard was everyone's uneven breathing.

"Kat?" Gavin called.

"Man, I hope you're right about this," Dean muttered to Sam.

"Yeah, me too," Sam agreed.

After a minute or so, the door audibly unlocked, and Dean took a step back away from it. The door slowly swung open, showing Kat standing in the doorway.

Sam stepped into the room, but then a second later, returned, shaking his head at Dean and Andie. _Clean._

"One thirty-seven," Kat said.

"Sorry?" Dean questioned.

"It whispered in my ear, one thirty-seven," she explained.

"Room number." The Winchesters said in sync. They crouched against the wall into a closed in huddle, while Dean searched through out the duffel bag.

"Alright. So if these spirits aren't trying to hurt anyone—" Sam began.

"Then what are they trying to do?" Dean asked.

"Maybe that's what they've been trying to tell us," Sam offered.

"I guess we'll find out. Alright." Dean stood, facing Gavin and Kat. "So, now, are you guys ready to leave this place?"

Kat nodded. "That's an understatement."

"Okay." Dean looked at the twins, "You get them outta here. I'm going to go find room 137."

"Wait, both of us?" Andie asked.

"Problem?"

"That seems a little excessive," Sam commented.

"Shouldn't one of us go with you?"

"No. I can handle it. These spirits aren't trying to hurt us, and there's two of them. One for each of you." Dean offered a smile, before walking away from the others.

Sam sighed. "Alright, come on." He started for an exit, the others shuffling behind him.

"So, how do you know about this ghost stuff?" Kat asked.

"It's kinda our job."

"Why would anyone want a job like that?"

Sam huffed a laugh. "I had a crappy guidance counselor."

"And Dean? He's your guys' boss?"

Andie shook her head, with a laugh. "Psst, no!"

"Well, he sure bosses you two around," she remarked.

"It's complicated," Andie explained.

"If you say so."

Sam tried a door. _Locked. _He tried another. Also locked. "Alright. I think we have a small problem."

"Then break it down," Gavin suggested.

"I don't think that's gonna work."

"Then a window."

"They're barred," Kat pointed out.

"Then how are we supposed to get out?" Gavin asked.

"That's the whole idea. We don't," Andie said.

"Huh?"

"There's something in here. It doesn't want us to leave," Sam explained.

"Those patients," Kat stated.

"No, something else." Sam said. "I'm gonna go see if I can find another way out." Then to Andie, he added, "Stay here with them."

"Sam, if these doors won't open. What makes you think any others well?" Andie questioned.

"It's worth a shot." Sam said, walking away.

Andie rolled her eyes. "I swear to God..." she trailed off, shaking her head. The three stood in silence, waiting for Sam to return. When he did reappear, Sam expressed the news which Andie had figured, there was no other way out.

"Huh," Andie huffed.

Sam shot a pointed glare in her direction.

"So what the hell are we gonna do?" Gavin asked.

"Well for starters, we're not gonna panic," Sam explained.

"Why the hell not!" Gavin

"What will that accomplish?" Andie asked, shaking her head in disbelief.

Sam's cell phone rang. He pulled it out of his jacket pocket, and answered. "Hey," he said into the phone. "Where the hell are you?" He paused, as he listened, "I'm on my way." He hung up, then placed the phone back into pocket. "I'll be right back." He started for the other direction.

"Where are you going?" Andie called after him.

"That was Dean. He needs help," Sam explained. He started for Dean's way, shooting back at his sister, "Watch after them!"

"I'm not a babysitter!" She watched him go, turn around a corner, then disappear, ignoring her. She huffed, then plopped herself down on the ground. And again, the three fell into a silence. The sound of a ringing broke the quiet, and Kat and Gavin both jumped high into the air. Andie rolled her eyes as she took out her cell phone.

"Hello?" she said into the phone.

"Andie, God, we need your help down here!" _Sam._

She jolted up on to her feet. "Okay, okay. Where are you?"

"The basement. Hurry!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming." She hung up, ready to bolt down the stairs when she remembered Kat and Gavin, who were watching her, catching the mood of the conversation from only her end. "Do either of you happen to know how to work a shotgun?"

Gavin, baffled, glanced over at Kat. "What? No!"

"I can," Kat spoke up, then after a pause, added, " My dad took me skeet shooting a couple times."

"Alright, cool. Here." Andie handed her the shotgun. "It's real simple. If you see a spirit, shoot at it. It doesn't get rid of them completely, but it will for a short period of time."

"Okay."

Andie darted towards the basement, following the signs above her head. She opened the basement's door, and just like all the others, it creaked open, adding to the creepy factor. She took one step at a time, slowly and quietly. She couldn't hear anything, and she couldn't see anything as she shined the flashlight in her hand around. "Sam? Dean?" she called. The flashlight then in that moment flickered once, before fading all together. She tapped at the top, and shook it. "Dammit," she cursed under her breath. Standing now in the center of the basement, she looked around. "Sam! Dean!" She spun around, and flinched back as Sam appeared behind her.

"Jesus, Sammy!" She pressed a hand against her chest, feeling her heart race beneath it. "You scared me, dude. What's going on? Where's Dean?"

"Yeah, we're fine. We handled it. Sorry," he explained, "False alarm."

"So, what happened?" she asked. "Is Dean okay?"

"Uh," Sam trailed off, turning away from Andie and facing towards the stairs. "He's fine."

"Okay, but _where_ is he?"

"He went back upstairs," Sam answered.

"I didn't see him," Andie said. When he didn't respond, she continued, "Why are you still down here?"

"Because—" Sam whipped around, his shotgun raised, pointing it straight at his sister.

Andie backed away, holding her hands out. "Woah, Sam! What the hell are you doing?"

For every step Sam took towards her, Andie took another step or two back, keeping her hands raised. She kept going back, entering through an opened door and into a separate room.

"Sammy, this isn't you," she said, trying to reason whatever had gotten a hold of him. Obviously, not all the spirits were helpful, and there were some just as evil as the usual the Winchesters dealt with.

"You dreamed about Jessica's death! You saw it happen too!" Sam yelled. He sounded like he was in pain, and she didn't know if it was over Jessica's death or because of the mind-control.

Andie sighed. It was time to face the truth about the dreams. "Right, I know I did. I'm sorry, Sam. But I didn't know who she was! I didn't think it meant anything. You should know, you too wanted to believe it was nothing."

"You could have warned me!"

"We hadn't talked in _years! _What the hell was I supposed to say?"

"My girlfriend is dead! If only—" Sam's hand shook, the gun wavering.

"You want to shoot me over it? Then fine, go ahead!"

Sam stared at his twin for a long, hard moment. Then, he cocked the gun, and shot her straight on at her chest. She tumbled back at the impact of the rock salt, crashing into an old rack, and tripping over it. As she fell, her head smacked against the wall. She groaned at the sudden jolt of pain, before it was overcome by numbness as the black swarm her. She fell into a state of unconsciousness.

* * *

Dean traveled the same path Andie had done. After meeting Kat and Gavin at the exit, and noticing his siblings to not be there, they confessed that Sam had gotten a call from Dean asking for help in the basement, and then Sam had called Andie for help. But that was funny, Dean was standing right there, and he _hadn't _even been in the basement. So he bolted behind the basement door, and down the basement stairs. He called out for the twins, worry causing his adrenaline to rush. Sam appeared, and Dean nearly had a heart attack, similar to Andie when she had first found Sam down there. He had sneaked up on them, his footsteps not making a sound on the concrete floor. Dean began to explain Ellicott's plan to Sam, that Dr. Ellicott wanted his patients to express their anger, but which only backfired on him, as the patients grew more furious, and they turned that anger towards the doctor. He also said that all the experimenting happened down in the basement, so he believed that the patients dragged his corpse down their as well. He mentioned to be on the look out for not only the doc's body, but also Andie, for neither brother claimed to know where their sister had disappeared off to.

Dean entered into another room, with Sam following him closely behind.

"I told you I looked everywhere. I didn't find a hidden room."

"Well, that's why they call it hidden."

There was a _woosh, _like the wind had blown through. Dean froze, and turned towards Sam. "You hear that?" He shined his flashlight around, stopping beside the rusty rack and on his sister's still body. "Oh my God, what happened?" He ran to her, flipped her around, and gave her a single shake. He took a hold of her head, feeling something warm and wet on the palm of his hand from the touch. "We have to get her out of here."

"Alright," Sam agreed simply, starting for the way out.

Dean looked away from Sam, and back down at Andie. "_Wait._"

"What?"

"There's a door here." He reached behind his sister, and ran his hand across the bottom of the door.

"Dean."

He glanced back at Sam, who had just called his name. A trickle of blood trailed down from Sam's nose. He quickly wiped at it. With the same shotgun he had pointed at Andie, Sam now now had it targeted at his brother. "Step back from the door."

Dean rose to his feet cautiously. "Sam, put the gun down."

"Is that an order?"

"It's more of a friendly request."

Sam raised the gun higher. "'Cause I'm getting pretty tired of taking your orders."

"I knew it. Ellicott did something to you." Dean indicated to Andie, "Did you hurt her too?"

"For once in your life, just shut your mouth."

"What are you gonna do, Sam? Gun's filled with rock salt. It's not gonna kill me."

A round or rock salt flew from the gun, smacking Dean straight in the chest. He fell back and through the fragile wall as it broke on his impact.

"No, but it will hurt like hell."

Dean winced at the pain, coughing slightly. "Sam!"

Sam moved towards Dean, standing over him, still with the gun in his hand.

"We gotta burn Ellicott's bones and all this will be over, and you'll be back to normal."

"I am normal. I'm just telling the truth for the first time. I mean, why are we even here? 'Cause you're following Dad's orders like a good little solider? Because you always do what he says without question?"

"This isn't you talking, Sam," Dean muttered.

"That's the difference between you and me. I have a mind of my own. I'm not pathetic, like you," Sam told his brother, then as if it was after thought, added, "or Andie."

"So, what are you gonna do, huh? Are you gonna kill us?"

"You know what, I am sick of doing what you tell me to do. We're no closer to finding Dad today then we were six months ago."

"Well, then here. Let me make it easier for you." Dean took out his gun, and held it out to Sam. "Come on. Take it. Real bullets are gonna work a hell of a lot better than rock salt."

Sam stared at the small gun, still holding his shotgun, and hesitated in the slightest way.

"Take it!"

Sam snatched the gun out of Dean's hands, and dropped the gun he had held on to the floor. He pointed it at the eldest Winchester's face, the barrel of the gun only inches away.

"You hate me that much? You think you could kill your own brother?" Dean asked. "Your own sister? Then go ahead. Pull the trigger. Do it!"

Sam stood there, not retracting the gun, but rather his hands and the gun trembled, still centered on Dean. The sound of the gun clicking was heard, but no bullet left the gun. Sam hit the trigger, and then again. Nothing happened.

Dean grabbed Sam's arms, pulling him down, as he struck a blow to Sam's face, knocking him over in all a fast-paced matter. He stood, while Sam struggled to do the same.

"Man, I'm not going to give you a loaded pistol!"

Dean hit Sam one more time, hard enough to knock him out this time. Still in pain himself from the crashing through a wall, Dean nearly fell over as she punched Sam in the face. Slowly standing, Dean said, "Sorry, Sammy." Holding the flashlight in one hand and the shotgun in the other, he began to search around. He pushed back a pair of old, ragged curtains with the gun, showing only a couple cheap beds, where the doctor must have done his work. He continued to look around, stopping on a white cabinet, with what appeared to a tuft of hair sticking out of it. Dean moved towards the cabinet, opening the two doors to find a corpse. He flinched away, gagging. "Oh, that's gross."

Dean grabbed the salt out from his bag, and started to shake the container over the dead body of who he assumed to be Ellicott himself. "Soak it up," he said to no one in particular. Dean dropped the salt container and grabbed a small tin of kerosene, squirting he body all over with it as well. He felt something-a gurney-smack into his back, sending him flying forward, and without much time to think, the spirit of Dr. Ellicott gripped Dean's head, promising to make him "feel all better".

Sometime shortly before that, Andie started to regain her consciousness. She groaned, turning on to her side. Her head felt like it was on fire. At first, she was too absorbed in her pain, she didn't hear anything rather than the load pounding in her ears. But when she heard Dean cry out in pain, Andie forced herself to open her eyes, to see her twin brother, laying on the floor, passed out, and her oldest, struggling to reach his lighter as a spirit was on top of him. Andie took in her surroundings, noting of the dead body in the cabinet, and jumped up. She ran over to the duffel bag, and snatched the lighter from off the floor. She struggled to light it, it dying down again and again, and she groaned out loud, before finally receiving a persistent flame. She tossed it in along with the corpse and watched as the body went up in flames. The doctor took notice, seeing his body on fire, and freed Dean, who crawled over to beside Andie. They watched the spirit turn black, before it crumbled on to the floor. Dean and Andie shared a look, both panting hard and in their fair share of excruciating pain.

Sam awoke. Dean and Andie shot him a look, as he glanced around.

"You're not going to try to kill us, are you?" Dean asked.

Sam raised his hand to touch his jaw where Dean had swung at him. "No."

"Good. Because that would be awkward."

* * *

Outside the Roosevelt asylum, finally able to leave with Dr. Ellicott dead, the Winchesters said their goodbyes to Kat and Gavin, who thanked the three siblings.

"No more haunted asylums, okay?" Dean asked.

Gavin and Kat nodded, then retreated back to their car, as so did the Winchesters.

"Hey," Sam started.

Dean and Andie turned back towards him.

"I'm sorry, guys. I said some awful things back there."

"You remember all that?" Dean asked.

"Yeah. It's like I couldn't control it. But I didn't mean it, any of it," Sam assured them.

"You didn't, huh?" Dean said in a tone as if he almost didn't believe Sam, and Andie wasn't sure if she did either.

"No, of course not." Off the unconvinced look he received from Dean, Sam asked, "Do we need to talk about this?"

Dean tossed the duffel into the backseat. "No. I'm not really in the sharing and caring kinda mood. I just wanna get some sleep."

Andie headed for the door Dean had just opened. She pressed her fingers against the side of her forehead. "I'm pretty sure I have a concussion." She felt her wrist grabbed by warm, rough fingers. She spun around, and saw Sam there.

"Wait, I'm sorry," he started.

"I know, I heard you. You were possessed, it's okay," she told him.

"No, it's not. I'm sorry for the way I've been acting." Sam paused, with an intake of breath. "I don't blame you."

"Aw, you two are making me tear up over here. Now let's go. I'm tired," Dean muttered. He turned away, getting into the car, but also hiding a grin on his face.

Andie nodded at Sam, taking in his apology, and offered him a smile of her own.

* * *

Back at the motel, Dean had first claimed a bed, calling "dibs", and had been the first one inside, falling face-first on to the bed's pillows. Sam had offered Andie the second, but she had told him that she'd take the couch. And within minutes, Dean and Andie fell into a well-needed, belated rest, only to be interrupted a couple hours later when Andie was awoken by a ringing phone. She reached for her phone. It wasn't hers, which meant it was one of her idiot brother's then, who wouldn't answer the damn thing, as it continued to ring.

"Dean," she heard Sam murmur. Sam hadn't been able to fall asleep, too deep in his thoughts, to fully rest. After another ring, he said it again, a little louder this time. Still, Dean did not react.

"Somebody, answer the damn phone already!" Andie groaned, her voice muffled by the couch cushions.

Sam sighed, reaching for Dean's phone on the beside table between him and Dean. He flipped it open, answering it casually, "Hello?" He listened for a moment, but then whatever the other person said on the phone caught his attention. Sam sat upright, the phone still pressed to his hear, and said one word that Andie swore she heard misinterpreted by her half-dazed state.

"Dad?"


	6. Separate Ways

Chapter Six** / / Separate Ways**

Andie sipped on her gas station coffee too quickly, burning her tongue in the process. However, she thought for it to maybe be a good thing. It was cheap and gross and she hadn't bother to drown it with sugars and cream because she was really desperate for a pick me-up. They had left so early after pulling a freakin' all-nighter in a haunted asylum. All she wanted to do was curl up and die. It sounded nice.

Sam was driving. He had answered Dean's cell phone when the eldest sibling wouldn't and spoke to their father, who was shockingly alive. He explained that the monster that had killed Mom and Jessica was a demon. He couldn't tell his _own _children where he was though, which made both twins roll their eyes.

"Alright, so the names Dad gave us, they're all couples?"

When Sam wouldn't accept Dad's demands for them to take up another hunt, while he went after the demon, Dean had snatched the cell phone out of his brother's hands. John then gave a willing Dean information about a job in Burkitsville, Indiana.

"Three different couples, all went missing."

"And they're all from different towns? Different states?"

"Washington, New York, Colorado," Andie recalled the states Dean had listed prior.

"Right. Each couple took a road trip cross-country. None of them arrived at their destination, and none of them were ever heard from again," Dean explained.

"Well, it's a big country. They could've disappeared anywhere," Sam said.

"Yeah, _could've_, but each one's route took them to the same part of Indiana. Always on the second week of April. One year after another after another."

"This is the second week of April."

"Yeah, that would make sense why Dad's sending us there." Off the irritated look she received from Sam, Andie shrugged. "Sorry."

"Can you imagine putting together a pattern like this? All the different obits Dad had to go through? The man's a master," Dean beamed, gazing over the printed out articles on the disappearances over the years.

The car jerked to the side, which made both Andie and Dean lift their eyes with a similar puzzled look on their faces. They were no longer moving. Sam switched off the engine. He had steered them towards the side of the road.

"What are you doing?" Dean asked.

"We're not going to Indiana."

"We're not?"

Andie gestured behind her. "I think the sign back there said Indiana was this way."

"We're going to California," Sam declared, "Dad called from a payphone. Sacramento area code."

"_Sam_," Dean warned.

"Guys, if this demon killed Mom and Jess, and Dad's closing in, we've gotta be there. We've gotta help."

"Well, Dad doesn't want our help. Why can't you ever leave it at that?" Andie sighed, pressing her head into the seat.

"I don't care what Dad wants."

"He's given us an order," Dean reminded him, the tone of his voice raising as his frustration level with his brother rose as well.

"I don't care," Sam repeated, firmly. "We don't always have to do what he says."

"Oh?" Andie started, but Dean cut her short.

"Sam, Dad is asking us to work jobs, to save lives. It's important."

"Alright, I understand, believe me, I understand," Sam said, "But I'm talking one week here, man, to get answers. To get revenge."

"This thing will be _over_ in a week," Andie pointed out.

"Alright, look, Sam, we know how you feel—"

"_Do you?_" Sam shook his head as he laughed in disbelief. "How old were you when Mom died? Four?" He turned to Andie. "And you were just a baby. I was the same age, and I sure don't remember Mom. Jess died _six _months ago. How the hell would you know how I feel?"

"Dad said it wasn't safe. For any of us," Dean tried again. "I mean, he obviously knows something that we don't, so if he says to stay away, we stay away."

"I don't understand the blind faith you have in the man, Dean. I mean, it's like you don't question him."

"It's called being a good _son!_"

For a moment, Sam stared at Dean. Neither brother said anything. Sam then threw open his car door, slamming it behind him as he stormed towards the back of the car. Dean, a sour, pissed look on his face, followed Sam out.

Andie sat there for a moment. She thought between joining her brothers or let them fight it out on their own. She was really leaning towards just sitting there, but then she thought better of it. She groaned, grudgingly joining her brothers out in the middle of the empty highway.

"What the hell are you doing?" she asked her twin. Sam had his bag around his shoulders and was in the process of sorting his other belongings from the car's trunk.

"Leaving," he replied tersely.

"You're a selfish bastard, you know that?" Dean barked. "You just do whatever you want. Don't care what anybody thinks."

"That's what you really think?" Sam asked.

"No, it's not—"

"Yes, it is."

"Well, then this selfish bastard is going to California." Sam announced, throwing his last bag over his shoulder. With one last short glance, he started down in the opposite direction that they had been traveling.

"Come on, you're not serious!"

"I am serious."

"It's the middle of the night!" Dean called out after him. "Hey, I'm taking off. I will leave your ass, you hear me?"

Sam stopped, turning around to face Dean. "That's what I want you to do." He stared at Dean, and Dean stared back at him before the older Winchester finally said, "Goodbye, Sam", then slammed the trunk shut and moved towards the driver side of the car.

Andie debated on what to do. This was so crazy! Two minutes prior they were driving to Burkitsville, Indiana, next Sam was taking off _again. _Difference, instead of Sam running away from Dad, he was going towards him, and that was just the icing on the cake of insanity.

She was watching Sam walk away, while Dean retreated back into his car, ready to drive away. Andie worried that Dean might have forgotten about her and would leave her too. Unable to take anymore, she shouted, "Whoa, guys, you're being fucking ridiculous!"

"Tell him that!" Dean snapped.

Sam spun around, ready to retort, but thought better of it and kept his mouth shut.

"Just come on, Sam," Andie begged.

"Why don't you come with me, Andie?" Sam suggested. "Let's go find, Dad. Hunt down this damn thing and kill it. We could be done with this life for—forever!"

"Andie doesn't want that. She likes her life!" Dean spoke.

Andie's eyes moved back and forth from between her brothers. She thought long and hard for a moment, her nerves running wild with her brothers staring at her, waiting on her. She didn't like being pressured. But with one more look at each, she sighed. "Sorry, Sam. I—I can't." She expected Sam to say something back, argue with her, ask her why, but she was glad when he didn't. Instead, he turned back around with a deep intake of breath, and headed again down the long road that seemed endless to where the three siblings stood.

"You coming, Andie?" Dean called out.

Andie watched Sam get farther and father, then sighed. Quietly, she said, "Yeah, I'm coming", and started back for the car.

* * *

The ride into Burkitsville was quiet. More than quiet, it was silent. They had only been about three hours away when Sam had ditched them. So, after that moment, for those three hours, Dean and Andie didn't say a world to each other. Andie wasn't sure what Dean was thinking, but he must have been kind of out of it for he didn't even press play on the car's radio. With none of his usual records playing, it made the pit in Andie's stomach worsen.

Or that may have been out of hunger. It was early morning when they arrived into the small town, dawn barley breaking, and the coffee Andie had downed hours ago effects had worn off and she hadn't eaten anything since the day before. She pressed a hand to her stomach which felt like it was collapsing in on itself. "Dean, can we stop somewhere?"

"Alright. How about there?" Dean pointed to a little shop across the way. A sign above it read, _Scotty's Café._

"Sounds perfect."

Dean parked the car across from the coffee shop, then him and Andie strolled across the street, greeting a man sitting in a rocking chair on the front porch. He gestured to the sign above their heads. "Let me guess, Scotty?"

"Yep."

"Hi, my name's John Bonham, and this is—"

"_Let me guess_, your girl's name is Pat Phillips?"

Andie pulled a face at being called _Dean's _girl, but Scotty doesn't seem to notice. Often she and Dean were mistaken for a couple, and usually they would pull a mutual face, then correct the person. However, before Andie could correct the man, Dean spoke, but he didn't correct Scotty. No, he was too taken back by the sudden Led Zeppelin trivia.

"Wow. Good. Classic rock fan."

"What can I do for you, _John_?" Scotty sneered.

Dean took out two pieces of paper from his pocket. They were the missing persons flyers for Vince and Holly Parker, which he had printed out prior to leaving Rockford. "I was wondering if, uh, you'd seen these people by chance."

Scotty glanced over the flyers. "Nope. Who are they?"

"Friend of ours. They went missing about a year ago," Dean said. "They passed through somewhere around here and I've already asked about Scottsburg and Salem—"

"Sorry." Scotty passed the flyers back to Dean. "We don't get many strangers around here."

Dean nodded. "Scotty, you've got a smile that lights up a room, anyone ever tell you that?"

That had Scotty and Andie both shooting odd looks at Dean.

Dean chuckled. "Never mind. See you around." He started back towards the Impala.

Andie forgot about her hunger for a moment as she caught up to Dean. With a huge, amused smile on her face and in a whisper, she asked, "You have a smile that lights up a room? You flirting with the guy or something? Wanna go back and ask for his number next?"

Dean rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well, whatever. The guy knows something that he's not telling."

"You gonna seduce him to get him to speak?" Andie teased. "I mean, we don't have _Sam, _who apparently is the only one that can get a person to talk—"

"You still going on about that?"

Andie frowned and crossed her arms against her chest. "_No." _

"Speaking of that case though, I heard Sam say something interesting in the asylum."

"Under the mind control or non-under the mind control?"

"Non," Dean answered. "He said that he heard what Mary said to you…Like Bloody Mary?"

"Oh, God," Andie grumbled, starting down the road. She didn't know where she was going. She just wanted—_needed _to get away from Dean.

"Where are you going?" she heard him call out to her.

She spun around and threw her arms up, shrugging. "I don't know. To ask someone else. Your boyfriend won't talk, but maybe someone else well."

The siblings entered a general store next. A married for twenty years or so couple, Harley and Stacy, owned that one. Just like Scotty, both had—or claimed not to remember ever seeing the pair of the people before.

"You sure they didn't stop for gas or something?" Dean interrogated.

Harley showed the pictures of the victims to his wife, who shook her head. "Nope. Don't remember them. You said they were friends of yours?"

"That's right."

"Did the guy have a tattoo?" The four people standing in the store's attention changed focus as a young, blonde girl entered from down a flight of stairs, carrying some boxes.

"Yes, he did."

The girl placed the cardboard boxes down on the counter and studied the picture of Vince. She turned to Harley and Stacy. "You remember? They were just married."

"You're right," Harley said. "They did stop for gas. Weren't here for more than ten minutes."

"Anything else you want to casually remember now?" Andie asked.

"Excuse me?"

Dean chuckled, attempting to keep a good nature. "I'm sorry about my sister. She gets a little grouchy when she's hungry."

"And tired, and running low on caffeine," she added.

Stacy smiled. "Let me fix you up a coffee."

"_Please."_

Stacy disappeared into a separate room.

"Anyway, I told the lucky couple how to get back on the interstate," Harley explained. "They left town."

"Could you point us in the same direction?" Dean questioned.

"Sure."

* * *

Dean and Andie were back in the Chevy Impala, driving down the interstate Harley that given them the directions for. They were beside an apple orchard when a noise sounded from the backseat.

"What the hell?" Dean muttered, jerking the car to the side and causing Andie to spill the hot coffee Stacy had retrieved her on to her lap.

"Ow! Dammit, Dean," she cursed, scrambling for napkins in the glove box while Dean searched through his bag from the backseat. He pulled out the EMF meter, which was beeping frantically. He looked over at Andie, holding the device in his hand. "You good?"

Throwing the napkins into an old fast food bag now being used as a trash bag, Andie grumbled, "Fine."

"Then come on."

Dean first stepped out of the car with Andie following him shortly behind. He held out the EMF meter which lead him towards the orchard. They surveyed around. It was mostly apple trees, except for a large, dark scarecrow that sat on a pole high above Dean and Andie's heads.

"Dude, you're fugly," Dean commented.

"Can we continue searching for the missing vics?" Andie begged, glancing away. "That thing's creeping me out."

"What, you scared of the scarecrow?" Dean asked, his voice teasing.

"No, I—"

Dean shook his head, not fully convinced, when he saw a sickle in the scarecrow's hand, leading him to notice a design on the arm. "Woah, Andie, look at this."

Andie stepped forward. "What is that?"

Dean scanned around, sighting a ladder leaning against a tree. "Andie, grab me that."

"Please."

"What?"

"You didn't say please."

Dean groaned. "You're being a pain in my ass." He sighed, then grabbed the ladder himself and pulled it up against the scarecrow. He climbed it, so he was standing only inches away from the scarecrow's face, which made Andie fidget out of nervousness.

He pushed the clothing covering the scarecrow out of the way then held out Vince's flyer. From where Andie stood, she could tell as well that the tattoo on Vince's arm was just the same as the scarecrows.

"Nice tat."

* * *

The Winchesters headed back into town and spoke to the young blonde woman from the general store, Emily. Her name was spelled out on a necklace that neither Dean nor Andie had noticed before. They stopped at the garage claiming of car troubles and Emily had been fortunately the one to tend to them for she informed them that a new couple was in town.

Dean and Andie found the couple, a woman and a man, sitting at a table with Scotty standing beside them.

"Oh, hey, Scotty. Can I get a coffee, black?" Dean ordered as they entered.

"Make that two!" Andie called after Scotty as he disappeared into a back room.

"Oh, and some of that pie too, while you're at it," Dean added, after reading off of a sign reading, _famous apple pie. _He sat down at the table beside the couple, and Andie joined him at the table, sitting in the seat across.

"How you doing?" Dean asked.

The couple smiled politely and waved.

"Just passing through?"

"Road trip," the girl responded.

"Hm. Yeah, us too."

They nodded.

Scotty walked over and refilled the couple's mugs. "I'm sure these people want to eat in peace."

"Just a little friendly conversation," Dean said innocently.

The owner started to walk away, when Andie yelled out, "Take your time on that coffee and pie!"

"So, what brings you to town?" The oldest Winchester returned to the man and woman.

"We just stopped for gas. And, uh, the guy at the gas station saved our lives," the woman explained.

"Is that right?"

"Yeah, one of our brake lines was leaking," her boyfriend explained, "We had no idea. He was fixing it for us."

"Well, that was very nice of him. Everyone in this town is so nice," Andie commented. "You don't find it creepy in anyway at all?"

The man shook his head.

"So, how long till you're up and running?" Dean questioned.

"Sundown."

"Really. To fix a brake line?"

He nodded.

"I mean, you know, I know a thing or two about cars. I could probably have you up and running in about an hour. I wouldn't charge you anything."

"You know, thanks a lot, but I think we'd rather have a mechanic do it," the woman told Dean.

"Sure. I know. You know, it's just that these roads, they're not real safe at night."

"I'm sorry?"

"I know it sounds strange, but, uh, you might be in danger."

"Look, we're trying to eat. Okay?" The man said, annoyed.

"Yeah," Dean said, then continued, "You know, my brother could give you this puppy dog look, and you'd just buy right into it."

The bell above the café door jingled, signaling an entry. _The sheriff_.

Scotty came out from the backroom and greeted the man. "Thanks for coming, Sheriff."

Dean and Andie shared a nervous and frustrated look, knowing just who the sheriff was here for. It wasn't the couple or Scotty nor was he coming in for a slice of pie.

Scotty whispered something into the sheriff's ear, then they both cast their eyes over at Dean and Andie, who quickly glanced in the other direction.

As the sheriff walked towards the Winchesters, Andie spit out, "Listen, that road you're traveling on, people disappear. I recommend you turn back around."

"I'd like a word, please," the sheriff said.

Dean threw his arms up. "Come on. I'm already having a bad day."

"You know what would make it worse?"

The siblings nodded.

* * *

Dean and Andie were traveling once again down the interstate. However, this time, the sheriff was behind him, making sure that the dreaded Winchesters left town and stayed out for good this time. Once they reached well past the town's life, the sheriff finally turned around and returned back to Burkitsville. And after he was gone, Dean stopped the car, pulling it over and beside the orchard.

The siblings sat in silence. Neither saying a word to the other. Although, unlike the drive in to Burkitsville, Dean had his records playing, but it drowned out as white noise. Something, that no matter how loud Dean blasted the music, the brother and sister were so used to it that it fell upon their ears.

"Well, this is fun," Andie remarked.

"Eh, whatever. We'll hang out here. Save a couple asses then head back into Burkitsville."

"But the creepy townsfolk don't want us in town."

"Well, sucks."

Andie hesitated as she called out her brother's name.

He looked over. "Yeah?"

"What are you gonna do about Sam?"

"What do you mean?"

"Are you going to apologize—"

"Apologize? If anything, he's the one that should be apologizing."

She shot him a pointed look. "_Dean_."

"What?"

"What if Sam doesn't apologize?"

"Then we go another four years of not talking."

"You're being ridiculous," Andie spoke under her breath.

Dean shrugged. "You can talk to him if you want. But I sure don't remember you ever making an effort to contact him at Stanford."

"You're such a dick," Andie said, more muttering.

"Yep. Continue with the name calling."

"Okay." Andie turned in her seat so she was facing Dean. "You're a dick. You're an asshole. You're a stubborn bastard. You—"

"_Shh!"_

The couple from the dinner drove past them, only to stop shortly after as if their car had broken down. The siblings watched the woman and the man step out of the car and open the hood of the car, checking it out.

"Should we do something?" Andie asked, glancing at Dean.

"Shh."

The couple struggled to find something wrong with the car, but unless it was blaring obvious—loud noises, smoke, fire—then neither would have an idea anyway. Cars were a foreign language to both of them. Frustrated, they headed straight for the orchard, looking for someone—anything that could offer guidance.

"Come on!" Dean yelled, jumping out of the car. He and Andie rushed out of the car and towards the couple. But as they ran in the direction where the man and woman had gone, the couple started running back to their car. The scarecrow was running and stumbling, apparently not very graceful, as he chased after what was meant to be his next sacrifice.

"Get back to your car," Dean ordered.

The couple only stood there and looked back with the scarecrow growing closer.

"Go!" Andie exclaimed. She reached out and grabbed the girl's wrist and started dragging them back to the road.

Dean cocked his gun and shot at the scarecrow, making it only falter slightly. He began running after his sister and the couple. He shot again, but the scarecrow still continued after them. He tried once more. The scarecrow still not affected. "Go! Go!"

Finally reaching out to the interstate, Dean cocked his gun and looked around.

"He's gone," Andie stated

In between pants, the guy asked, "Wh—what was that?"

Dean shook his head. "Don't ask."

* * *

Dean offered a ride to the next town over for the couple, so maybe they could call a tow truck that wouldn't be coming out of Burkitsville, or sleep at some motel, or just do something in a town that wouldn't make them their next sacrifice. They had accepted.

On the way towards a motel, Andie passed out, unable to physically stay awake any longer. She was used to little sleep, but usually she had caffeine to help, but the Scotty guy had never given her the coffee. She awoke only shortly after to the sound of her brother talking, and saying something about...Sam? Andie forced herself to open her heavy eyes, and saw that Dean was talking on the phone to _Sam_. Andie smiled and made a satisfied "hmph" noise.

Dean rolled his eyes. "Oh, shut up," he said to her. "No, not you, _Andie_." He held out the phone towards her. "Here, he wants to talk to you. _Hell _knows why."

Andie took the phone, ignoring Dean's comment. "Hey."

"So, crazy, huh?" Sam asked, though Andie had no idea of what he was referring to, but then he clarified, "The scarecrow."

"Oh, yeah, uh, pretty nuts."

The twins held the phones to their ears, listening only to the sound of the other breathing for a moment, until Sam said, "Uh, I'm sorry."

"Yeah, me too."

"No, you shouldn't have to apologize. You did nothing. Dean and I are jerks."

"Yeah," she agreed.

Sam laughed. "So, everything's good?"

"Well, I still haven't slept for more than an hour. Damn, Dad and all. Sending us hunt after hunt. I swear to God he thinks we're superhuman."

"I've thought that for a while."

Andie smiled. "I know you have. How's your search going?"

"So far, haven't found Dad. I made a friend through."

"Yeah? What's the gender of this said friend?"

"_Her _name's Meg, and _no_."

"I didn't say anything."

"You were getting there," he said, "Anyway, uh, I'll let you sleep. Talk to you later, I guess."

"Yeah. See ya."

"Maybe one day you'll actually have the guts to leave Dean."

Andie sat there, frozen. The phone was still pressed her ear and her mouth dropped.

_That—that…_ She felt so angry that forming a rational thought wasn't happening. _That dick! _She heard the beep, signaling that he had hung up. She slammed the phone shut, then passed it back hastily to Dean.

"Good?" he asked, noticing her sudden anger.

"Peachy." She crossed her arms and turned towards the window, her hands wrapping themselves into fists. She was scared she'd start crying. She didn't cry often. She didn't _dare_ cry. She had been taught crying showed weakness by her drill sergeant of a father—well, close enough. He had been a marine. But hearing Sam make that stupid, unnecessary remark hit an already trembling point. All that anger and sadness that she felt inside had been building ever since Sam walked out that motel door for Stanford. It was had left her feeling betrayed and hurt, but yet she did nothing and Sam was right. She could have spoken up, walked out, did _something. _Instead, she stood there, speechless, like a deer in headlights, watching the scene around her change as both her father and Dean took off, disappearing separate ways and leaving her behind, forgetting about her. _Stupid, stupid mistake._

Even though, no matter how much Sam's comment made her want to punch him square in the face, still, once Dean pulled into a motel parking lot, claimed a bed, and his breathing had evened out so Andie was sure he was sleeping, she booked it. She took the Impala's keys and she went to Sam. The whole way she was muttering to herself that she was weak and Sam knew it.

By morning, Sam knew she was her way. He had told her what bus station he was at and that he would wait for her. Dean was left in the dark and was blowing up her cell phone with calls and texts. She ignored him though, which maybe wasn't the smartest decision but she couldn't dare talk to him. She just couldn't. He had eventually stopped midway through the day. He was probably instead planning on how he was gonna kill her for stealing his car.

Andie drove all through the night and for most of the day until she found the bus station Sam had given her the address for. He never even made it to Sacramento. He was waiting for a bus to take him there. But when she was only a few minutes away, she received a call from Sam.

"Hey," Andie breathed into the phone.

"Have you talked to Dean lately?" Sam asked.

"Uh, no. But he's been calling and texting like crazy. He finally stopped a couple hours ago."

"Exactly."

"What?"

"I think Dean might be in trouble. I've been trying to call him for the last three hours. I'm just getting his voicemail," he explained.

"Alright. Well, I'm almost there."

When Andie arrived, Sam was waiting for her outside. He opened the passenger side door and sat down, throwing his bags into the backseat as Andie pulled away.

"So, uh, to Burkitsville?"

"To Burkitsville."

* * *

Back in Burkitsville, Indiana, Dean found himself being tied to a tree in the orchard by the townsfolk. Beside him, tied to an adjacent tree, was Emily, the niece to the general store owners. They were the next sacrifices.

"How many people have you killed, Sheriff? How much blood is on your hands?" Dean interrogated.

"We don't kill them," the sheriff stated matter-of-fact.

"No, but you sure cover up after. I mean, how many cars have you hidden, clothes have you buried?"

The sheriff started back towards the town.

"Uncle Harley, please," Emily begged.

"I am so sorry, Em. I wish it wasn't you," Uncle Harley said.

"Try to understand. It's our responsibility. And there's just no other choice. There's nobody but you," Aunt Stacy chirped in.

"I'm your family," Emily pointed out.

"Sweetheart, that's what sacrifice means. Giving up something you love for the greater good. The town needs to be safe. The good of many outweighs the good of the one."

As the townspeople walked away, leaving him and Emily tied to the trees, ready to become a scarecrow's meal, Dean yelled out, "I hope your apple pie is freakin' worth it!"

"So, what's the plan?" Emily asked.

"I'm working on it."

But hours later, after the sun had gone down, and it was pitch black in the field, Dean was beginning to become panicked.

"You don't have a plan, do you?" Emily asked.

"I'm working on it," he said again. "Can you see?"

"What?"

"Is he moving yet?"

Emily peered around. "I can't see." A shadowy figure—no two—heading straight towards their way from the trees. "Oh my God."

Dean fidgeted with the rope around his hands as they moved closer, struggling to get himself untied. He thought that this might be the end. He was going to be the meal for some Pagan god. But hey, at least the town of Burkitsville got another great farming season.

"Dean?" the familiar voice of his brother spoke and Dean was never gladder to see Sam.

"Oh! Oh, I take everything back I said. I'm so happy to see you," Dean said as Sam began to untie him. As Andie worked on the rope around Emily's hands, Dean turned to her, furious, "And you! I am going to kill you. What the hell were you thinking? Stealing my car? And then you can't even answer my calls! Are you insane?!"

Andie patted his shoulder. "Alright, alright. We can debate my level of insanity later. Right now, we need to go."

Dean glanced towards the scarecrow post, except there was no longer a scarecrow hanging. "Where'd he go?"

"Where'd who go?" Sam questioned.

"The scarecrow!"

"Ah, shit," Andie cursed.

"What do we do?" Emily asked.

"Run," Dean ordered.

So, the four started running, trying to escape the orchard before the god picked and chose who his next victims would be. Each had a fifty-fifty chance, but neither wanted to take that bet.

"Alright, now, this sacred tree you're talking about—"

Dean cut his brother off. "It's the source of power."

"So let's find it and burn it," Sam suggested.

"Nah, in the morning. Let's shag ass before Leather Face catches up." Dean led them to a clearing, only to find a group of the townsfolk waiting for them. "This way," he instructed, but more of Burkitsville's citizens stood there, blocking them in all directions, surrounding them.

"Please, let us go," Emily cried.

"It'll be over quickly, I promise," Harley said.

"Please."

"Emily, you have to let him take you. You have to—" A sickle to Harley's stomach cut him short. He doubled over as Stacy, along with Emily, screamed in response before she was next grabbed by the monster. The rest of the townspeople ran away frightened, once the scarecrow headed back towards the orchard.

"Come on, let's go," Dean said, then him, Sam, Andie, and Emily started running again. There was a noise, and when they turned around, the scarecrow and Emily's aunt and uncle had disappeared.

Next morning, the Winchesters and Emily returned to the orchard to burn the tree. Standing in front of the tree, Dean lit a separate branch with a match and was about to throw it at the tree, when Emily spoke up, "Let me."

"You know, the whole town's gonna die," Dean reminded her.

"Good." She threw the burning branch at the tree, the whole thing going up in flames.

With assurance that the tree was destroyed enough, the four retreated to the car and the Winchesters brought Emily to the bus station in the next town. The same one Dean and Andie had driven the couple stood outside of the bus, watching Emily get on and wave and smile at the three siblings, before it drove away, disappearing out of Indiana and towards the direction of Boston. Once the bus was out of sight, the Winchesters started back for the Chevy Impala.

"Now, what the hell were you thinking?" Dean yelled at Andie once he reached the car.

She shrugged. "I don't know. I wasn't."

"Yeah, no kidding. Stealing my baby, taking off in the middle of the night. I should kill you for that. Dad would kill you for that."

"Well, dad's not here, is he?" Andie retorted, then after a beat, said, "I'm too tired to argue with you right now, Dean, okay? I'm running on too little sleep." She walked around the car and opened the backseat door.

"And whose fault is that?" he challenged, "I hope you accomplished whatever you were trying to accomplish by driving all night."

"Not really." And with that, Andie got into the car. Her brothers followed her in shortly after, but not without Dean muttering to Sam that he was going to kill her.


	7. We All Need a Savior

_A/N: I probably could have read through those chapter a couple more times, but I didn't feel like it, so beware! Errors below!_

* * *

Chapter Seven / / **We All Need a Savior**

Andie hated hospitals. They smelled funny—like cleaning supplies and old people—and they always made her feel restless. All she could think about was the spirits running around through the halls, causing mayhem. One right now could be choosing their next victim, but instead of doing the number one thing she does best, Andie was doing her second best thing.

_Feeling sorry for herself._

Like the patients who could be dying at the hands of spirits, rather than any recoverable injuries or illnesses, Andie was also not helping her twin brother. While Sam ran frantically around, speaking to nurses, doctors, the cops, Andie sat with her arms wrapped around her legs and her head on her knees in a chair set in the hospital's lobby.

She felt someone sit beside her, but she didn't bother look over. She knew it was Sam, call it some weird twin-sensing thing or she remembered the scent of their last motel room's shampoo, but he didn't say anything and Andie was grateful for that.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Sam stand. She lifted her head and saw Dean's doctor approaching them.

"Hey, Doc. Is he…" Sam trailed off, unable to find the words to ask the dreaded question. If Dean was okay, then awesome! But if he wasn't, then he wasn't so sure that he wanted to know the answer.

"He's resting," the doctor replied simply.

"And?"

"The electrocution triggered a heart attack. Pretty massive, I'm afraid. His heart...it's damaged."

"How damaged?" Sam heard his twin speak up beside him. Her voice didn't falter nor break. She sounded confident. Sam seemed to not be the only one that was surprised by this. Once the words fell out, Andie was taken back herself.

"We've done all that we can."

_That sounded like..._

"We can try and keep him comfortable at this point."

_No, he wasn't saying..._

"But I'd give him a couple weeks at most. Maybe a month."

_He said it._

"No, no. There's, there's gotta be something you can do," Sam pleaded, "Some kind of treatment."

"We can't work miracles. I really am sorry."

Andie watched the doctor turn away. His stupid white coat whooshing from the motion. She watched him get father and father and she couldn't even think of a coherent thought. Al that was coming to her mind was obscurities. Eyes wandered away, ready to turn her cheek and walk away, before she did something regrettable, but _then _she saw the regrettable thing she was trying to avoid. And it came in form of a white mug with the words, "I love mom" painted across.

She snatched it off the receptionist desk and chucked it across the lobby. The mug shattered as it hit the wall—just missing the doctor's head—then fell on to the floor, breaking into a variety of pieces. He stared at Andie, horrified and wide-eyed, then without a breath, bolted down the rest of the hallway.

"Can't work miracles, my ass!" she called after him. "This is a hospital, you are a doctor! You're supposed to fix people, make them feel better. That is your job! My brother is dying! Get your ass back in that room and do something about it! You know what? In the words of a good friend, Holden Caulfield, you're a phony, you're a phony, you're a phony!" With each 'phony', she pointed to a different person. First, in the direction the doctor had gone, a nurse behind the desk, and a family of five exiting from the elevator. "You're all goddamn phonies! Oh, and those insurance cards my brother just gave you, those are a goddamn—"

Sam, whose face had gone red from embarrassment, slipped one hand over Andie's mouth, yanking her away, as he raised his other into the air, muttering an apology over and over. He shoved his sister into a nearly empty waiting room—spare an elderly man—then apologized once more.

He was worried she would start cursing out the old guy, but he felt relief wash over him when she took a seat instead. "Andie?" he asked cautiously, sitting in the seat to her right.

She kept her gaze glued to the floor, but her hand, which had been tapping the side of her leg out of nervous habit, stopped, acknowledging that she was listening.

"Dean is going to be okay." When she didn't say anything after a moment, he continued, "The doctor may not be able to do anymore, but that doesn't mean we can't. We know more than the doctor does."

That got Andie to look at him with her eyebrows furrowed and a deep frown. She hadn't realized she had gone to medical school nor that Sam had, for that matter.

"Where's Dad's journal?"

Then she understood. He wasn't talking about anything medical anymore and Andie wasn't so sure how she felt about what he was implying. But still, she answered, "It's in the car."

"We'll check it out. There's gotta be somebody or something that can help," Sam declared. "But for right now, let's go see Dean." He stood, but noticed that she wasn't following. "It's okay, Andie." He held out a hand. "Come on."

She took it.

* * *

Dean Winchester stared mindlessly at the television. He had never spent much time watching TV. It was something he used to wish he could do more, but after the past fifteen minutes, he was glad now. Day television sucked.

He grimaced. Not only because of how painful the shows on television, but because of all the pain he was in. He had felt worse in his life. He was dying—that played a part. Nevermind the physical, excruciating pain, but the fact that he only had two weeks, a month, _maybe, _was causing the pit in his stomach. But when he heard a knock and saw his baby siblings enter, he swallowed it down. Soon, he would leave them. He didn't want to worry them or give them the pain he was feeling, so Dean did what he always did in serious situations.

He took nothing seriously.

"Have you ever actually watched daytime TV? It's terrible."

"I talked to your doctor, Sam said.

"The fabric softener teddy bear. Ooh, I'm gonna hunt that little bitch down."

"Dean..." He heard his little sister call his name, her voice scratchy and broken. He saw the looks Andie and Sam were giving him. He was weak, pale, dark circles sat beneath his eyes. He didn't need to look in a mirror to know he looked terrible. The twins' sad faces told him everything. The pain escalated time ten.

"Yeah, alright." He sighed. "Well, it looks like you're gonna leave town without me."

"What are you talking about?" Sam questioned. "We're not gonna leave you here."

Dean deadpanned, "Hey, you better take care of that car. Or I swear, I'll haunt your ass."

"I don't think that's funny."

"Oh, come on, it's a little funny." But all he received was dead silence. Neither Sam nor Andie laughed, chuckled, or smiled. They were still giving him that damn sad look. So, he took a breath, and much more seriously, he said, "Look, guys, what can I say. It's a dangerous gig. I drew the short straw. That's it, end of the story."

"Don't talk like that, alright?" Sam told his older brother. "We still have options."

"What options?" he asked, "Yeah, burial of cremation? But I'm gonna die and you can't stop it."

"Watch us." Sam, determination clear on his face, took a step towards Andie, turning his back to Dean. He whispered, "I'm gonna go get the journal. Stay here?" Even though she didn't say a word, he took her silence as a yes as he exited the room.

"What was that about?" Dean spoke up.

Andie looked down, fidgeting with her sleeve.

"So a rawhead, huh?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Those damn things are tricky."

"Mm-hm."

"You know, you shouldn't really blame yourself—"

"_Don't."_

Dean jumped back at the sudden anger rushed out of his sister. "I, uh…"

She kept her gaze for a few moments with her eyes narrowed and a frown upon her face. She then broke away, her eyes trailing back towards the floor.

He sighed. "In the hall earlier, I overheard—well, it was hard _not _to hear—a little sister throwing a fit, yelling and screaming, calling everyone goddamn phonies, throwing things. I don't know what..." He trailed off, swearing she had said something. "Huh?"

"Mug. It was a mug."

"She made a complete fool of herself." He waited for a reaction, but he couldn't tell if she was giving him one, so he added, "but I bet she did it all out of love for her big brother."

That got her to smile.

* * *

Andie groaned. Her eyes were burning and she had no idea what she was looking at. She wasn't a doctor. She didn't know what all these big words meant. How did she get stuck with the medical files? She should be the one doing the supernatural work. Sam _was _the college boy. Sure, he had studied pre-law, but he had to know more than her. He actually paid attention in school while she faded to the back and doodled in the corner of her tests.

She shoved the papers into a neat pile on the corner of the bed. She looked up at Sam, and just in time too. His phone flew past her face, almost hitting in her the nose. However, she dodged it. "Woah, there, buddy boy."

He sat on the adjacent bed. "Sorry."

More sympathetic, Andie asked, "No, luck, huh?"

Sam shook his head. He called John, thinking he might be interested to hear that his son was dying, or at the least, offer some kind of help, but as per usual, all they were getting was his voicemail.

At the sound of a knock on the door, Sam stood. Andie returned to the files. Her eyes gazed down back at the small print. She figured it to be only housekeeping standing in the hallway, but then she heard her twin ask _happily, _"What the hell are you doing here?", then she knew it couldn't be a couple maids.

She had to take a double glance, but there Dean was, leaning against the door frame. She jumped up and ran towards her brothers. At first, she thought he was okay, everything had worked out, but she knew it wasn't true. He was still as sickly looking as he had been in the hospital. If not, _worse. _

"I checked myself out," he explained.

"What, are you crazy?" Sam questioned his brother.

Dean entered the room, stumbling his way towards a chair. "Well, I'm not gonna die in a hospital where the nurses aren't even hot."

Sam shut the door. "You know, this whole I-laugh-in-the-face-of-death thing? It's crap. I can see right it. We both can." He peered over at Andie.

"Yeah, whatever, dude. Have you guys even slept? You look worse than me."

Andie self-consciously crossed her arms against her chest. Staring at Dean, she couldn't dare look at herself. She didn't want to know. She hadn't slept nor showered in couple days.

Sam helped Dean into the chair. "We've been scouring the Internet for the last three days. Calling every contact in Dad's journal."

"For what?"

"For a way to help you. One of Dad's friends, Joshua, he called me back. Told me about a guy in Nebraska. A specialist."

From behind Sam, Dean could see Andie mouthing the words, 'a specialist' and miming air quotes. He turned back towards his brother. "You're not gonna let me die in peace, are you?"

"We're not gonna let you die, period," Sam declared. "We're going."

* * *

The pattering of the rain hitting the car's hood drowned out the silence of the three Winchesters, pacifying the tension in the enclosed car. Or worsened it. Andie was having trouble telling. She loved hearing the sound of the rain. It was soothing and pleasant, but in a car overwhelmed with emotions, the rain gave her no avail. It also didn't help that the road was unpaved, causing the car to jolt from the gravel, and the path was crowded with people, heading towards a giant, white circus tent, forcing Sam to swerve the car jerkily in attempt to dodge hitting the pedestrians standing right in the freakin' way. Andie was starting to feel car sick, something she hadn't felt since she was six. Maybe it was just everything though.

Sam parked the car to the side. He was the first one out and immediately jumped to Dean's side. Andie quickly followed behind as Dean weakly pushed open the car door.

Sam slid an arm around Dean. "I got ya."

"I got it," Dean snapped, shoving the middle Winchester away. "Man, you are a lying bastard. Thought you said we were going to see a doctor."

"I believed I said a specialist," he pointed out. "Look, Dean, this guy's supposed to be the real deal."

"The Church of Roy LeGrange. Faith Healer. Witness the miracle," Andie read off of a sign beside the tent. "Hmm. Sounds legit."

"I can't believe you brought me here to see some guy who heals people out of a tent!"

"Reverend LeGrange is a great man," an elderly woman responded.

"Yeah, that's nice."

Passing by, the Winchesters overheard a protester in the center of it all, angrily telling a sheriff, "I have a right to protest. This man is a fraud! And he's milking all these people out of their hard-earned money!" But the officer wasn't having it. He dragged the man away.]

"I take it he's not part of the flock," Dean commented.

"But when people see something they can't explain, there's controversy," Sam said.

"I mean, come on, Sam. A faith healer?"

"Maybe it's time to have a little faith, Dean."

"You know what I've got faith in?" The eldest Winchester asked. "Reality. Knowing what's really going on."

Sam looked to Andie for help, but she was giving him the same look. "How can you two be a skeptic? With the things we see everyday?"

"Exactly," Dean said, "We _see_ them. We know they're real."

"But if you know evil's out there, how can you not believe good's out there, too?"

"Because I've seen what evil does to good people."

Andie opened her mouth to say something, but the voice that spoke was not her own. Her eyes drifted from her brothers and to behind Dean, where a young blonde woman stood, holding a black umbrella over her shoulder.

"Maybe God works in mysterious ways," she piped up.

Dean spun around, meeting the girl's eyes. He smiled. "Maybe he does. I think you just turned me around on the subject."

"Yeah, I'm sure," she said, not sounding the least convinced.

"I'm Dean. This is Sam, and this is Andie."

She took his extended hand. "Layla." She shook it, then asked, "So, if you're not a believer, then why are you here?"

"Well, apparently my brother here believes enough for the three of us."

An older woman appeared. She placed an arm around Layla. "Come on. It's about to start." She smiled at the direction of the Winchesters, then directed Layla towards the tent.

"Well, I bet you she can work in some mysterious ways," Dean said, watching them go.

Andie scrunched up her face in disgust, before pushing past her brothers and following the crowd that was now heading all in the same direction. _It must be time for the service. _

Upon entering the tent, she surveyed around, partially searching for a seat, partially waiting for mumbo-jumbo to jump out her. She grimaced. She found no mumbo-jumbo, but she did find a crowded tent of ill people, scavenging around for an empty chair.

Dean tilted his head. "Yeah, peace, love, and trust all over."

The twins followed where their elder brother was directing at. A security camera hung on the side.

Dean and Andie gave each other a look, and wordlessly decided to choose a seat near the back. But Sam had better ideas. As they began to sit, Sam wrapped an arm around Dean and led them towards the front. "Come on."

"Don't!" Dean protested. "What are you doing? Let's sit here."

"We're sitting up front," Sam declared.

"What? Why?"

_"Come on." _

Dean groaned. "Oh, come on, Sam!"

"You alright?"

This is ridiculous." He slapped Sam's hands away. "I"m good, dude. Get off me."

Sam let go. He pointed to three empty seats behind Layla. "Perfect."

"Yeah, perfect," Dean agreed sarcastically.

Sam stared at his twin, then at the chairs.

Andie got the message. She huffed, but obeyed, taking the seat closest to the wall.

He followed her in, saying to Dean, "You take the aisle." He attempted to help his brother sit, but Dean raised a hand and Sam backed off.

Andie leaned forward. "He's Mr. Bossy Pants, isn't he?" she said to Dean, pointing at her twin.

"More like Mother Hen," The eldest Winchester grumbled.

Sam shushed them as a blind man stepped on the stage in front of them, led by a woman to a podium with lit candles framing it.

"Each morning, my wife, Sue Ann, reads me the news," he said, "Never seems good, does it?"

Andie flinched as the crowd roared in agreement. Already bored, she had spaced out and began mindlessly fidgeting around with the watch on her wrist. She droned out Roy's voice as she tried to fix the time after screwing it up to read 1-AM. "Shit," she muttered. She felt a nudge, and at first, she thought Sam was going to criticize her for swearing or not paying attention, but when she peered over at him, he pointed to a table onstage covered with various religious items, specifically an old wooden cross with a smaller cross inscribed in a circle on the top.

Roy kept preaching, but Andie wasn't listening. She _knew _that cross, but she couldn't figure where she had seen it before. Dad's journal? A previous hunt? Sam knew it, so that eliminated four years.

She furrowed the brows. "What is that?"

Sam shrugged with the same confused look on his face.

"Dean," Andie whispered.

'Yeah, and into their wallets," Dean muttered only to his siblings as a response to something Roy had said.

"You think so, young man?" Roy asked.

The crowd fell silent. It took Andie a moment to realize the preacher was replying to her brother.

"Sorry," Dean apologized lamely.

"No, no. Don't be," Roy assured him. "Just watch what you say around a blind man. We've got real sharp ears."

The crowd laughed.

"What's your name, son?"

"Dean."

"Dean," he repeated, nodding. "I want—I want you to come up here with me."

The sound of clapping broke out, but Andie could feel the high level of disappointment in the room that he hadn't chose them. _What good, sports. _She did take note, however, that Layla and her mother hadn't bothered to move.

Sue Ann, moved to center stage, beside her husband. She smiled at Dean.

Dean shook his head. "No, it's okay."

"What are you doing?" Sam whispered.

"You've come here to be healed, haven't cha?" Roy asked.

"Well, yeah, but uh, maybe you should just pick someone else."

The crowd clapped again, trying to encourage Dean.

Andie reached across Sam's back and gave Dean a shove. "Dude, go!"

Dean looked over at his sister, shooting her a glare. _Traitor._

"Oh, no. I didn't pick you, Dean. The Lord did."

"Get up there!" Sam exclaimed, excitedly.

Dean stood hesitantly.

Sue Ann assisted him and directed him beside Roy.

"You ready?" Roy asked.

"Look, no disrespect, but uh, I'm not exactly a believer," Dean told him.

The preacher smiled. "You will be, son. You will be." To the crowd, he said, "Pray with me friends."

Andie followed Sam's lead, not sure on the whole procedure. He, however, seemed to be mirroring Layla's mother from in front of him. She lifted her arms above her head and joined hands with Sam and the guy beside her. She felt kind of silly doing it, but fought the temptation to drop her hands and sit back down. _It's for Dean, _she had to keep mentally repeating to herself. _B__ecause you're a screw-up, _the last one added in.

Roy lifted one hand and placed his another on Dean's head. "Alright now. Alright now."

Dean's eyes glossed over, before rolling into the back of his head. His legs gave out and he fell to his knees. All with Roy's hand on his head.

"Alright now."

The eldest Winchester crashed on to the stage's floor.

"Dean!" the twins called out their older brother's name within a second of each other. They jumped out of their chairs and ran to his unconscious body.

Andie took the crowd's excited clapping as a good sign. Unless he was dead and this was actually some weird cult. She wouldn't be surprised. As she reached out to Dean, she caught sight of the time of her watch. It was no longer the wrong time, but instead, had stopped completely. At 4:17.

The eldest Winchester's eyes flew open with a quiet gasp.

"Say something!" Sam demanded, clutching the front of his brother's sweatshirt.

Dean blinked, glancing around, his vision blurred. His eyes drifted from his siblings' worried faces to Roy standing above him, hands out to his sides with palms up, a happy expression upon his face. Finally when he stopped seeing double, he noticed a tall, wrinkled, ghostly figure to the side of Roy. The figure, dressed in a suit, stared at Dean, then as he turned away, he vanished.

* * *

Dean swore he felt fine. He wasn't so pale anymore and the dark bruise-like circles beneath his eyes were fading. The twins noticed that something was still off about him, but he refused to say. If his siblings were happy, then there was no need to rain on their parade. Not now, not until Dean knew for sure. So, he pushed down the uneasy feeling building in his gut and pretended that everything was alright, for the sake of Sam and Andie. _God, _he hoped he was wrong.

But then Sam and Andie dragged him to the local hospital to make sure that Dean was _really _okay and not lying to them. The doctor, who was mystified by Dean's miracle recovery, also mentioned that something else '_strange' _happened that day. An athletic, twenty-seven year old died after being admitted for a heart attack. Just like Dean, it was _almost _out of the blue. Dean's recovery had been because of supernatural causes, so the three Winchesters were smart enough to put the pieces together.

And Dean knew, he was right. He told the twins about the old man he had seen. Sam persisted that it was a coincidence and Andie told him to be thankful, and they both agreed to let it go, but Dean wasn't going to. Some guy had died for him and that was more than enough for Dean to make sure it didn't happen again. He knew it was enough for his siblings too, but their own stubbornness was clouding their brains.

However, Sam finally seemed to break. "Yeah, alright," he agreed to Dean's mention of a "feeling"—the instinct in hunters when they know something isn't right. The twins must have felt it too. "So, what do you wanna do?"

"Sam, I want you to check out the heart attack guy. I'm gonna visit the reverend. And—"

"I'll go with you," Andie piped up.

"What?"

She played off her sudden rush of eagerness. "Why not?"

Dean didn't respond, but he accepted it. He motioned for her to follow him.

* * *

At the LeGrange's house, Dean told Sue Ann, who had opened the door, that he wanted to thank Roy. Dean may have been lying, but that's all Andie planned. Sue Ann had lead them into the living room, and Roy had joined them. Currently, Sue Ann was filling glasses of water for her guests as Roy and Dean talked about what had happened just the day before.

"I feel great," Dean told him. "Just trying to, you know, make sense of what happened."

"A miracle is what happened," Sue Ann spoke, "Well, miracles come so often around Roy."

"How so?" Andie asked.

"When did they start, the miracles?" Dean added.

"Woke up one morning, stone blind. Doctors figured out I had cancer. Told me I had maybe a month. So, uh, we prayed for a miracle," Roy explained, "I was weak, but I told Sue Ann, 'You just keep right on praying'. I went into a coma. Doctors said I wouldn't wake up, but I did. And the cancer was gone." He removed the glasses from his face, revealing two fake, all-white eyes. As he put them back on, he said, "If it wasn't for those eyes, no one would believe I'd ever had it."

"And suddenly you could heal people," Dean stated.

"I discovered it afterward, yes. God's blessed me in many ways."

"And his flock just swelled overnight. And this is just the beginning," Sue Ann continued.

"Can I ask you one last question?" Dean wondered.

"Of course you can," Roy encouraged.

"Why? Why me? Out of all the sick people, why save me?"

"Well, like said before, the Lord guides me. I looked into your heart, and you just stood out from all the rest."

"What did you see in my heart?"

"A young man with an important purpose. A job to do. And it isn't finished."

Well, that was enough for Dean. He let the room sit in awkward silence for a moment, before turning to his sister beside him. "Uh, we should probably get going."

"Right, yeah," Andie agreed. "You go, uh…" She turned to Sue Ann and Roy. "Do you have a bathroom I could use, real quick?"

"Second door to the left," Sue Ann said, pointing down a hall.

"Thanks." She stood, signaling Dean to stand with her.

He did, but he eyed her curiously. She was acting weird, or weirder than usual.

Andie smiled. "Meet you outside?"

"Sure?" Dean stared at her for a moment, before hesitantly turning away.

"I'll walk you out." Sue Ann exited along with Dean.

_Perfect, _Andie thought.

She turned towards Roy, who rose from his chair. "Roy, I wanted to thank you for healing Dean because if you hadn't, I don't think—No, I _know. _There is no way I would have been able to live with myself—"

_"Andrea."_

She stopped her rambling. She was confused at who had called her name, more specifically, who had called her by her _full _name. The only person who ever did was her father when she had done something to piss him off.

But John hadn't been the one to call her, for he was God knows where, but instead, it was the only person in the room. Roy.

Roy spoke quiet and low, almost that he sounded angry. "I have witnessed a lot of evil in the world, unsettling things. It comes with age, doing what I do. I can sense if something is good or bad by only a feeling I get in my gut. But I never felt something so _evil _as I feel when I am in your presence. You have a darkness deep inside of you, Andrea Winchester, and I pray for you."

Andie froze. She searched her mind for something to say in response, but she was coming up blank. _What do you said to that? _So, she didn't say anything. Instead, she bolted right out the door and on to the LeGrange's porch.

All Andie knew was that she wanted to get away, but she didn't know _where. _She wanted to get away from Roy, his house, the giant circus tent where sick people crowded beneath, waiting to be picked by a man who was a goddamn miracle. A man who was chosen to be saved, like Dean, but Andie, she was _cursed. _

She heard _motel _in her head and decided that was where she wanted to hide. A hot shower would be nice, scrub off the dirt, the sweat, the _darkness _that Roy had spoke about. But she couldn't scrub that away. That was set in her, inescapable and only growing.

With her mind set on a shower in the motel, where she could get away from everyone, even her brothers, Andie was disappointed to find Dean not in the car, but in a chat with Layla and her mother.

Sue Ann turned away from the group and headed back inside. Layla's mother, fuming, spun around to face Dean. "Why are you still even here? You got what you needed."

"Mom, stop," Layla pleaded.

"No, Layla, this is too much. We've been to every single service. If Roy would stop choosing these strangers over you. Strangers who don't even believe!" the older woman exasperated. "I just can't pray any harder."

"Layla, what's wrong?" Dean asked.

She hesitated. "I have this thing…"

"It's a brain tumor," Layla's mother spat. "It's inoperable. In six months, the doctors say…"

"I'm sorry," Dean said.

"It's okay," Layla responded, but everyone knew it wasn't. And Layla's mother was willing to be more vocal about that.

"No, it isn't," she said slowly, looking directly into her daughter's eyes. She then turned towards Dean. "Why do you deserve to be live more than my daughter?" Before her rage could escalate anymore, she walked away from the Winchesters. Layla took a deep, shaky breath and followed her mother down the stairs.

Dean watched them go. He was devastated and heartbroken, so Andie decided to place her self-loathing on the back burner, as Dean delved into his. It was all the Winchesters seemed to know.

* * *

The car ride back to the motel was quiet, almost to the point of exhaustion. Andie didn't think she could take anymore bad news, so she really hoped that Sam had something better, but when they arrived at the motel, and all Sam had to say was that he was sorry, Andie knew that it couldn't mean anything good.

Sam had learned that Marshall Hall, the athletic, twenty-seven years old, had died at 4:17, the _exact _same time that Dean was healed. Sam had put together a list of people Roy had cured over the past year, along with the obituaries in the newspaper. Every time someone was healed, another person was dying of the same thing. Meaning, their theories were proven to be true.

Dean, who was unhappy to learn of this revelation, did have a pretty good idea though of how Roy was completing this. it was the only thing that could give and take life as so. _A reaper. _And was the elderly figure Dean had saw in the black suit.

Sam wasn't completely convinced, but Andie, who had four more years of hunting under her belt, didn't know what there was to question about it. "What else could it be, Sam?" she asked. "You've ever known of anything else to do something as big as this?"

Dean nodded in agreement. "The question is, how is Roy controlling the damn thing?"

"That cross," Sam blurted.

"What?"

"There was this cross," Sam searched through the stack of papers on the table. "I noticed it in the church and I knew I had seen it before." He held a card up. "Here."

Dean grabbed the card. "A Tarot?"

"Like used for witchcraft?" Andie asked.

"More or less," Sam said, "A tarot dates back to the early Christian era, right? When some priests were still using magic. And a few of them veered into the dark stuff. Necromancy and how to push death away, how to cause it."

"So, Roy's using black magic to bind the reaper?" Dean suggested.

"If he is is, he's riding the whirlwind. It's like putting a dog leash on a great white."

Dean rose to rinse a cup in the sink. "Okay, then we stop, Roy."

"How?" Sam asked, but in response, all he received was silence and two similar stares as if they spoke for themselves. He shrugged to show he wasn't understanding.

"You know how," Dean finally said, which wasn't any better, but Sam got it, or realized that his siblings were as bad as he thought.

"Wait, what the hell are you talking about? We can't kill Roy."

'Sam, the guy's playing God. He's deciding who lives and who dies. That's a monster in my book."

"Plus, he's manipulating a reaper, which I think you would agree more is a monster, so to stop the reaper, you gotta stop Roy…"

"And we come full circle," Dean completed for Andie.

"No, we're not gonna kill a human being, guys. We do that we're no better than he is," Sam pointed out.

"Okay, we can't kill Rory, we can't kill death. Any bright ideas college boy?"

With the pressure and Roy's life on him, Sam stumbled out his answer, while still unsure himself. "Okay, uh...If Roy's using some kind of black spell on the reaper, we gotta...figure out what it is. And how to break it."

That led the Winchesters back to Roy's house, fifteen minutes before the next service started, meaning that left them only fifteen minutes to stop Roy from trading another life. Sam suggested there might be a spell book, so the twins headed towards Roy's house to look for it, while Dean attempted to stall Roy.

They passed the protester from the first service, chanting, "Roy LeGrange is a fraud. He's no leader."

Dean took a flyer. "Amen, Brother."

"You keep the good work," Sam encouraged.

"Thanks," he replied.

"_Twelve_ minutes," Dean said, before he split away from his siblings.

"Well, Dean, maybe you should learn to do some damn good stalling," Andie said back, but he was already out of hearing distance.

Sam nudged her. "Come on."

Down the dirt path, leading to the LeGrange's house, Sue Ann and another man assisted Roy down the porch stairs. At the sight of the front door swinging open, Sam and Andie froze in their tracks. They ducked behind the side of the house, hoping to God that they hadn't been seen. And apparently God was listening. The preacher and his wife headed in the way that the twins had come, disappearing behind the trees.

Sam stood, reaching up towards the window above his head. He yanked it open as high it would go, giving them enough room for them to comfortably crawl through. Sam went first, and Andie followed him shortly behind. He began to raid the bookshelf as Andie examined around. The room looked the same as it had from just the day before. When she had sat across Roy and he had pretty much told her that she was Satan's equivalent.

She turned to Sam, wanting to tell him what Roy had said for he was in the same boat, but she couldn't form the words. She would open her mouth, then shut it. Over and over she did that, standing in the preacher's living room, no more than an "uh" coming out.

"Andie, come here."

She snapped out of her thoughts, pushing down her fears and worries, as she joined her brother by his side. He handed miscellaneous cut-out newspaper articles to Andie that had been stuck inside a small, aged book. Two were about the people whom had already died, Marshall Hall and another woman, and the third, David Wright, the protester from the parking lot.

"What are you doing?" she asked Sam as he whipped out his cell phone.

"Calling Dean."

"Put it on speaker."

"What have you got?" Dean asked through the phone's speaker.

"Roy's choosing victims he sees as immoral," Sam explained.

Andie flipped through the newspaper clippings. "Marshall Hall, he was gay. One woman, an abortion rights activist."

Her twin nodded. "And I think I know who's next on the list. Remember that protester?"

"What, the guy in the parking lot?" Dean asked.

"Yeah. Yeah, we'll find him. But you can't let Roy heal anyone, alright?"

As soon as they heard the beep from Dean's end, signaling he had hung up, the twins set into motion. Andie shoved the articles back in and passed it to Sam, who placed the book back where he had found it, behind a much larger book.

Andie climbed out the window first. On the other side, she waited for Sam for a moment, wondering what had him held up. But he appeared, and shut the window behind him, before they ran back towards the parking lot.

"You see him?" Sam asked, surveying around. The parking lot was completely empty.

"David Wright, Mr. David Wright!" Andie yelled as if she was calling a dog, "Come here, David!" She shrugged.

Sam rolled his eyes, then started in one direction as Andie went the opposite way. Her eyes drifted around the parking lot crowded with cars. She looked in between and behind the vehicles, but she found no protester.

_Huh. Maybe he left, _she thought, but as she neared a green pick-up truck, she heard a yell.

"David Wright?" she called back.

"Help!"

_"Help!" _

Andie blinked as the setting around her changed. _God, she was losing her mind. _The dirt beneath her feet, the cars on parked around her, the prayer tent behind her was changing to the musty cellar of an abandoned house. She stumbled, then she fell. She caught herself with her hands. Her knees ached, her leg stiffened at the feeling of a ghostly hand holding her ankle.

She screamed. _"Help! _Dean!"

Dean looked back. His sister a moment ago had been standing behind him. _Where did she go? _He glanced around, then below him. Andie was heading back down the stairs, but not voluntary. The damn fugly creature was pulling her down.

He shot his taser, but by the sounds of Andie's screams as she was dragged farther and father down into the dark basement, he figured he had missed.

"Get them out of here!" Dean barked at Sam.

"Here, take this!" The middle Winchester tossed his brother his taser gun, before directing the two children, who had been kidnapped by the rawhead, upstairs and to safety.

From the cellar door opening, Dean caught a glimpse of daylight around the room, giving enough to see. He couldn't see the rawhead anymore, but against the wall, Andie laid limped, barely conscious and her chest heaving as she gasped for breaths. Dean's first instinct was to run to her.

He grabbed her face. "Hey, hey, you're alright."

"I know." She doubled over in a coughing fit.

"Careful."

She swatted away his hands. "I'm fine. Just go kill that asshole."

"You don't have to tell me twice." Dean stared at her for another moment, before he stood. His eyes searched around the small, unlit room. He shined his flashlight back and forth and into every corner and crevice. "Come on!"

Andie watched her brother as he paced back and forth. She kept her hand around her taser, just in case. But before her eyes could even focus on what was happening, the raggy and hairy creature leaped up from behind the staircase, shoving Dean into the wall. He fell, along with his gun and his flashlight, on to the concrete floor.

Andie mustered up enough strength as she stood, using the wall to balance herself. She held out her taser. "Hey, ugly!"

The rawhead turned around. He roared as Andie's pressed the trigger. The thing quivered, then collapsed on to the floor beside Dean. However, Andie wasn't aware of the leaky pipes above the two. Drops of water fell on to the unconscious bodies. As she stepped closer, peering over, she saw Dean, laying in a puddle of water, twitching along with the monster. She had electrocuted him.

Andie's mouth dropped open. Her taser gun fell to the ground with a clatter. She let out a blood-curling scream.

At the sound of his sister's distressed cry, Sam bolted back towards the house, leaving the kids to stay outside by the Impala, telling them to stand still as he rushed to his siblings' help. Down in the cellar, he found Andie standing, a hand over her gaped mouth.

"Andie, what's wrong?" He looked around. He first saw the rawhead, _dead, _so what was the issue? But then his eyes landed on Dean, laying only a foot or two away, unconscious. He ditched his twin's side and ran to his elder brother. He grabbed his face, moving it gently around, trying to get an reaction. "Dean, hey. Hey." But Dean didn't react.

He looked back at Andie. "How'd this happen?"

She shook her head.

_"Andie?!"_

"I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."

"Dammit," he cursed.

"I didn't mean to," she croaked out. Louder, "I didn't mean to!" Her eyes shot open. Inches away, she stared at a large, old oak tree. _"Help."_

"Help! Help me please!" the voice from cried out again.

Even though she was shaken up, Andie forced herself to run in the direction the yells were coming from. She kept running across the parking lot, until she found the source, David Wright, being dragged along by a familiar face, one that had been so disappointed by her days before. One that she swore, even through his best efforts to hide it, he resented her for almost killing their brother—She couldn't dare to think what Dean thought of her.

"Sam!"

"Andie!"

She took a moment to collect herself. "Y-you, uh, found him." She watched Sam as he pulled out his cell phone, dialing what she assumed to be Dean's number. He held it to his ear, hearing it ring. His eyes peered over at this twin sister, in between fiddling with his phone, noticing that she was staring at him. "What?"

"Nothing, sorry," she mumbled. She self-consciously glanced around the lot. "Uh, David, you see it anymore?"

The protester looked around.

"David, I think it is okay," Sam assured.

He nodded. His breathing was starting to even out and a look of relief was _almost _on his face, but when he turned back around, his eyes stopped on Andie, wide and an expression of fear and shock across his face.

"What?" she asked.

"No!"

"Dean, it didn't work," Sam said hurriedly into the phone. "The reaper is still coming!"

While Sam listened to Dean on the other end of the line, David Wright was shaken in fear, so Andie decided to take action, even though, she had no clue what she was doing. She whipped out her gun from tucked into the back of her jeans and swung it around. "Where is it?!"

"Right there!" he yelled. _Why was he the only damn one that see the thing?!_

"Gotta be more specific there, dude."

"It's right in front of you!"

Andie shot.

Sam jumped at the noise, taken back. "What the hell are you doing?!"

"Doing something, while you chat have a nice chat! But oh, it's okay Sam, I've got you covered!"

"Well, it wasn't Roy controlling the reaper." Sam smirked. "It was Sue Ann."

"Huh."

David Wright cried out once more as he was lifted, his head still as if it was being held. Reflexively, Andie shot a bullet towards the ground.

"Is that helping at all?" she asked.

He didn't respond, but stayed in the same position. The reaper was still holding him.

Sam shook his head. "Shooting at it isn't going to work."

David fell to the ground. The twins watched him carefully, waiting for the reaper to strike again. Instead, David said, in between gasps for breath, "It's gone."

Andie grinned as she turned towards her twin. "See?

Sam ignored her as he moved to help David up. "I got you, I got you."

"Thank God," he muttered.

Andie clapped his shoulder. "Uh, you be careful now, kay?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Great," she breathed out. In the direction of Sam, she asked, "Ready to go?"As the twins headed back towards the car, Andie couldn't help but laugh at the fear-stricken attendees crowding around the parking lot and the siren of a fire truck as it drive up the road, knowing that it was all apart of Dean's plan and everything they thought, was wrong. She spotted her eldest brother talking to Layla, but as she and Sam approached closer, she turned away.

Dean watched her go, then noticed his siblings waiting a few feet away. As he started for them, he overheard Roy say to Layla's mother, "Private session tonight. No interruptions. I give you my word, I'll heal your daughter." With one look at the twins, Dean knew that they had heard too.

* * *

Back at the motel, the Winchesters paced around the room, debating their next approach. Now, that they knew it was Sue Ann working the magic, that changed things a bit.

"So Roy really believes," Sam stated, sitting on the edge of the bed.

To his right, Dean leaned against the wall. "I don't think he has any idea what his wife's doing."

Roy may have been innocent, but the question still stood. _How do you still stop the reaper? _Dean and Andie knew Sam would be against killing Sue Ann, no matter how many deaths she had caused, so neither mentioned it.

"Well, I found this." Sam took out a book from his coat pocket. He handed it to Dean. "Hidden in the library. It's ancient. Written by a priest who went dark side. There's a binding spell in here for trapping a reaper."

Andie looked over her brother's shoulder. "Wait, isn't this the book you put back?"

"Yeah, but I'd thought it would be more use to us if I grabbed it instead," he explained.

"Yeah, but what about when Sue Ann goes to look for it and realizes it's missing?"

"What would have you done?"

She started to protest, but then realized. Quietly, she muttered, "I would have taken it."

"Must be a hell of a spell," Dean said, looking it over.

"Yeah," Sam agreed, "You gotta build a black altar with seriously dark stuff. Bones, human blood. To cross a line like that, a preacher's wife. Black magic. Murder. Evil."

"Desperate," Dean decided. "Her husband was dying, she didn't have anything to save him. She was using the binding spell to keep the reaper away from Roy."

A chill ran down Andie's spine. She _knew _that feeling. The overwhelming emotion of desperation where you'd do anything for this one person. She was scared that days ago, if presented with the opportunity, she would have done the same thing as Sue Ann for Dean. She was terrified that she would still do so if needed.

"Cheating death, literally," Sam said.

"Yeah, but Roy's alive, so why is she still using the spell?" Dean asked.

"To kill the people she sees as immoral," Andie recalled.

"May God save us from half the people who think they're doing God's work." Andie snorted in amusement at that.

"We gotta break that binding spell," Sam declared.

"You know, Sue Ann, had a coptic cross like this," Dean said, looking at the picture of a cross in the book. "When she dropped it the reaper backed off."

"So, you think we gotta find the cross or destroy the altar?"

"Maybe both?"

Andie shrugged. "Couldn't hurt."

"Whatever we do we better do it soon, or he's healing Layla tonight."

* * *

Once again the Winchesters drove down the narrow, dirt road leading to the parking lot outside the giant, white circus tent. To help remain stealthy, all lights on the Impala, including the headlights, which was making Andie nervous. From the backseat, she noticed Sam eyeing Dean cautiously every time he drove over another bump.

"Will you two stop backseat-driving?" Dean snapped.

Andie and Sam shared a look, but they stopped fidgeting.

Sam looked out the window. "That's Layla's car. She's already here."

Dean nodded. "Yeah." His voice was quiet.

"Dean," Sam huffed.

"You know if Roy woulda picked Layla instead of me she'd be here right now. And if she's not healed tonight she's gonna die a couple months."

"What's happening to her is horrible," Sam tried to reassure his brother, "But what are you gonna do? Let somebody die to save her? You said it yourself, Dean, you can't play God."

Andie spoke slowly in attempt to control her bubbling rage, "You're alive, Dean, be grateful."

Dean stared at her for a moment, then broke his gaze as he stepped out of the car. He heard his siblings follow him out as he lead the way towards the tent. A small group of people were already present. Roy stood on the stage, preaching to the people.

"Where's Sue Ann?" Dean asked.

Sam looked back. _ "House."_

The Winchesters ran towards the house, but as they got near, they saw two officers passing by. The same ones that caught Dean when he had yelled out 'fire!' during the service. He turned to his siblings. "You two go find Sue Ann. I'll catch up."

Andie followed his gaze to the cops and she immediately decided she didn't like that idea. "Dean...what are you going to do?"

But he didn't answer. He ran towards the cops. "Hey!" They looked over. "You gonna put that fear in God in me?"

The two men dropped their coffee in a hurry as they chased after Dean back into the parking lot.

As soon as they were sure Dean had led the officers far enough away, the twins checked around the house. They peeked in through the windows, searching for Sue Ann or a source of spellwork, but all they found was dark rooms. Andie leaned over the railing and spotted light gleaming out of the bulkhead. "Sam, over here."

Sam peered over the edge. With one look, he rushed down the porch stairs. He held open the concrete doors, allowing Andie in first, then followed behind.

Andie felt the wall for a light switch as she took baby steps in an attempt to not trip. She couldn't see anything around her, other than an altar, against the wall of the basement, so she decided to head towards that. Getting closer, she noticed that the tabletop was littered with various parts of dead animals, blood, and horns. "Gross," she commented, poking at an animal bone, or what she hoped to be the bone of an animal. She stepped forward, her eyes following and landing on a photo of a familiar face crossed off in red marker—or was it blood? But it wasn't the protester. It was Dean. He was the next target.

Andie looked for Sam. She was surprised to find him standing beside her. His breathing had stilled and he didn't move. Both already startled at the sight in front of them, they jumped in response to the sound of a voice behind them. _Sue Ann's. _"I gave your brother life and I can take it away!"

The twins gazed over at each other. They stood in silence, listening to the sounds of their own pounding heartbeats. Then, in a moment, the sound of glass shattering and metal banging off the concrete floor echoed throughout the basement. Andie flinched as Sam flipped over the altar table in a sudden rush of anger. He bolted in the direction Sue Ann's voice had come from, but she was gone. From across the damp cellar, Andie could tell from the sounds of movement outside the bulkhead that Sue Ann had locked them in.

Sam pushed on the door, growing more frustrated with each attempt, but the door didn't budge, not enough.

_"Sam," _Andie pleaded.

"No!" he cried with another shove.

Through the door, Sue Ann spoke. It was muffled, but the twins could still make out the words. "Can't you see? The Lord chose me to reward the just and punish the wicked. And your brother is wicked and he deserves to die just as Layla deserves to live. It is God's will."

Sam turned away from the door, surveying the room.

"Goodbye."

Andie watched her twin as he grabbed a block of wood that was leaning against the wall. He swung the piece at a boarded up window, smashing the glass.

"A-are we supposed to climb through that?" She hesitantly asked, eyeing a shard of glass still attached to a window that was barely big enough to crawl through comfortably, never mind with the worry of cutting yourself.

He only raised his eyebrows at her.

Andie may have been a lot smaller than Sam, but somehow she had managed to prick herself on a shard of glass on the window sill, while he had crawled through fine. But with no time to stop, she ran towards the tent with blood soaking the side of her shirt. She cursed (over and over) under her breath as the pain by her ribs rose up her whole right side. With each stride, it felt like she was on fire. But she forced herself to keep running, even though she was following farther and farther behind Sam.

Until she tripped over her own feet and fell on her face.

"Andie, what are you doing?!" Sam called to her, frustrated.

"Dying," she mumbled. "You go ahead, I'll catch up." She didn't need to tell him twice. When she looked up again, he was gone. She took a minute to collect herself, but when she turned her head to the left, she saw her brother's limp body with the only thing keeping him steady was a force invisible to the eye. Without a thought, she ran to him. "Dean! Dean!"

She could tell he was struggling to fight the reaper, but was losing, and fast too. His eyes were glazed over. It appeared as if he was trying to say something but his pale face was quickly turning blue as air was sucked out of him.

Andie may have been born into a life of hunting and killing, but that was all monsters. She had never killed someone or seen an actual person die before her eyes. But seeing her eldest brother so close to the verge of death (twice in under a week's span), she didn't think there was an ever worse sight.

"Stop," she begged quietly, but she didn't know why she expected the reaper to listen to her. "Please, stop." She fell to her knees in front of Dean, tears welling in her eyes and the pain at her side burning again. _She wanted to die._

"I'm sorry, Dean, I'm sorry," she cried. But what was she sorry for? Dragging him here? All the bullshit she had pulled in the last twenty-two years? She wasn't so sure herself.

Andie wanted to cover her eyes, but she found herself in a frozen state. She couldn't move her arms, her legs. The pain from before subsided and instead, it was replaced by numbness. For a moment, she couldn't feel her heart beating anymore, and she thought that maybe she had died. But then, Dean collapsed forward, gasping, and her hands moved in a split of a second, catching her brother.

"Andie?" he asked weakly.

"Oh my God," she breathed, "You're okay."

"Yeah, I'm fine," he muttered, forcing himself into a sitting position.

"Careful," she reminded him.

Dean shoved her off, disgruntled. "I'm fine. He started to stand, when he noticed the red stain on her sweatshirt. "What happened to you?"

"I, uh, sliced myself. I'm fine." She stood along with him. "Uh, so, is this over?"

"It appears so."

"We should probably go find Sam."

* * *

Sam trudged to where they had hid the car. He felt relief over him. He had stopped Sue Ann by snatching her necklace. But by doing so, the reaper had turned on her. Then again, Sam wasn't sure if he cared anymore and that scared him. How could he be okay with a human's death? But he pushed the thought out of his mind, as he saw his siblings approaching. Both were alright. Or they were alive, at least. They looked like hell, but Sam knew he probably did too. "You okay?"

Dean shook his head. "Hell of a week."

"Yeah," he agreed. "Alright, come on. We should get going."

They entered the car to head back to the motel, pack their things, and get the hell out of Dodge. Dean had seemed upset, and whether it was because only minutes ago he had been on the verge of death, or something else, but Sam had decided to give Layla a call while Dean was in the shower. At first, Andie hadn't been so sure, but when she saw Dean sitting on the bed, motionless, she started to become more definite.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Nothing," he replied.

Sam turned towards his siblings, watching them. Gently, he asked, "What is it?"

"We did the right there here, didn't we?"

Andie shook her head. "_Dean."_

"Of course we did," Sam assured his brother.

"It doesn't feel like it," Dean said.

But the Winchesters conversation came to a halt at the sound of a knock. They turned simultaneously towards the door.

"I got it," Sam told them, cheerfully, nearly running to open the door. '"Hey, Layla. Come on in."

"Hey," she spoke.

Dean jumped. "How did you know we were here?"

"Sam called. He said you wanted to say goodbye?" Layla explained.

Dean glanced at Sam, who was looking back at him sheepishly.

"I'm gonna grab a soda," Sam said quickly. "Wanna come with me, Andie?"

Andie grabbed her coat off of a chair as she passed by, following Sam out the door. Closing it behind them, they left Dean and Layla to themselves.

Andie placed the quarters from her pocket into the vendor machine and waited as a Coke rolled down.

Sam laughed. "You know, I didn't mean we actually had to get a soda."

"I know," she said, reaching down for it. "But I'm thirsty. And who knows the next time Dean will stop. We still gotta find Dad."

"Yeah," he agreed with a sigh.

Andie mindlessly played with the tab on her can as she thought for a moment, debating.

"What is it?" he asked, lowering his head into her view.

"Uh, it's nothing."

"Hmm."

Andie smirked to herself, realizing how alike herself and her brothers were. They were stubborn. liking to sulk about their problems on their own. But she also realized how little good it caused, so she lifted her head, catching Sam's eyes, and asked cautiously, "D-do you think we're evil?"

_"What?" _

Nothing, never mind." She shook her head. "Stupid question."

"No, Andie, what are you talking about?"

She only shrugged.

Lowering his voice, Sam asked, "Where is this coming from?"

But Andie didn't answer. She continued to stare at her shoes and spin the tab on the soda can.

He kept his eyes on her. "W-we'll be alright," he tried to reassure her even though he didn't know if he believed that himself.


End file.
